Alterra Technology Enables Major Milestone in Plastic Recycling at Viva Energy Geelong Refinery

AKRON, Ohio, May 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Alterra, a global leader in advanced plastic recycling technologies, is proud to announce the successful deployment of its pyrolysis oil in Australia, marking a significant step toward a circular economy for plastics.

In a major trial conducted this week, 9.5 tons of plastic pyrolysis oil (PPO)—produced by Alterra from end-of-life plastics at its facility in Akron, Ohio—was processed at Viva Energy's Geelong Refinery. The trial demonstrated the technical compatibility of Alterra's advanced recycled product with existing refining infrastructure, highlighting the transformative potential of Alterra's technology in large-scale plastic recycling solutions across Australia.

The successful results demonstrate how Alterra's technology can produce high-quality PPO at scale and supports Viva Energy to build their case for a permanent soft plastics recycling facility in Australia.

"The successful trial confirms that our technology can be integrated seamlessly with conventional refining systems and deliver high-purity outputs from challenging plastic waste streams," said Valerio Coppini, Chief Commercial Officer of Alterra. "We are excited to partner with Viva Energy to support them in their journey to validate the processing of soft plastics pyrolysis oil at the Geelong Refinery. We see this as an important step in bringing scalable, sustainable plastic recycling to Australia. This is about more than waste diversion—it's about redefining the lifecycle of plastic."

Alterra's proprietary process breaks down post-consumer plastics into their original chemical building blocks, creating a sustainable feedstock for new plastics and chemicals production. The PPO used in the Geelong refinery trial represents the type of material that will be produced at scale in the proposed recycling facility.

Bill Patterson, Executive General Manager – Refining at Viva Energy said it was exciting to see a new future emerge for the refinery. "Over many decades the Geelong Refinery has played an important role in making fuels and other products which are essential to our way of life in Australia," Mr. Patterson said. "We want to continue to do this, and this initiative is a critical step in demonstrating the various roles our facility can play in the energy transition, establishing a circular economy and helping address Australia's discarded plastic issue."

About Viva Energy
Viva Energy is a leading convenience retailer, commercial services and energy infrastructure business, with a history spanning more than 120 years in Australia. The Group operates a convenience and fuel network of almost 900 stores across Australia and supplies fuels and lubricants to a total network of nearly 1,500 service stations.

Viva Energy owns and operates the strategically located Geelong Refinery in Victoria, and operates bulk fuels, aviation, bitumen, marine, chemicals, polymers and lubricants businesses supported by more than 20 terminals and about 80 airports and airfields across the country.
www.vivaenergy.com.au

About Alterra
Alterra is the developer, operator, and licensor of its thermochemical liquefaction process technology that renews discarded plastic back into its original building blocks, thus minimizing reliance on new, fossil-derived feedstock for the manufacturing of new plastic products. Our commercially operational plastics circularity facility in Akron, OH, leverages our unique fully continuous technology to process post-consumer plastic content daily. By deploying our technology, we are Solving Plastic Pollution^® through Infinitely Renewed Plastics™.
www.alterra360.com 

CONTACT INFORMATION: [email protected]

SOURCE Alterra