Viability analysis for the development of a waste plastic to wax technology plant

Abstract

Plastic has become one of the fastest-growing man-made material mainly because it is traditionally produced with a single use objective. As its production continues to rise, plastic waste and lack of waste management is recognized as a major environmental threat. In this context, it becomes imperative to find alternative and innovative solutions for waste plastic. This dissertation aims to study the viability of the development of a new technology within Europe, that focuses on tackling this issue. Following a Frequentative Thermolysis process, this technology allows the creation of multiple solutions, aiming at the production of highly valuable products from waste plastics. The analysis made focuses on wax as the target solution, a high demand and low supply product in the current market. This paper starts by introducing the context of the opportunity with an overview of both plastic and wax market, creating a setting on which to build the financial model and investment
structure. A DCF Valuation approach was used to value the financial return and the respective NPV of potential investors of this technology. Lastly, the Environmental Impact of the technology and the production plants referred was calculated, accounting for the net impact of both the amount of greenhouse gas prevented by removing waste plastic from the environment and preventing it to be incinerated and the wax
production impact.

Date of Award	29 Jun 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Filipe Santos (Supervisor)