The issue
Waste is a major challenge for the chemical industry. When valuable assets reach the end of service they are often incinerated or sent to landfills, despite still holding valuable resources. The amount of spent hydroprocessing catalysts disposed of each year alone could fill a whole football stadium.
Disposal of end-of-service catalysts and hazardous byproducts contributes to greenhouse gas emissions while driving up recovery costs. Chemical processes often generate high volumes of byproducts and hazardous residues that require significant energy output to recover or are difficult to reuse, further increasing environmental impact and cost.
New approaches that prioritize recycling and regeneration in chemical production are needed; spent catalysts should be viewed as valuable feedstock, not disposable waste. Evonik Catalysts is leading these efforts by transforming catalyst regeneration and critical metal reclamation to enable more sustainable production processes and tangible customer value.
The solution
We’re pioneering technologies that extend resource lifecycles, reduce incineration and landfill waste, lower emissions and create new value streams.
A key part of our commitment is transforming waste without compromising performance – exemplified by our Excel® Rejuvenation technology. Through this process, restored catalysts deliver matched performance levels to fresh ones, while reducing raw material mining and lowering environmental impact and associated costs.
We recognize that many spent catalysts still contain valuable resources. That’s why our catalyst acquisition program is designed to reclaim maximum value, enabling customers to reduce landfill waste, comply with strict regulations and lower environmental footprint.
Resource recovery is taken a step further by our scalable Purocel™ series. By enabling higher recycled-content feedstock, plastic waste is transformed into valuable input – closing material loops in pursuit of a circular economy.
How this drives sustainability
Recycling is fundamental to a thriving circular economy, and Evonik is committed to developing technologies that keep valuable resources in use for longer. Our advanced processes – spent catalyst restoration, valuable metal recovery, and impurity removal – reduce industrial dependence on virgin materials and cut waste.
These initiatives help customers meet sustainability goals and lower operational costs by optimizing material efficiency and extending asset lifecycles.