Dubal Holding, the Dubai government’s investment arm in commodities and mining, power and energy, and industry, has partnered with Norwegian recycling company Quantafuel and global chemical company BASF to develop a plastics recycling plant in Dubai.

The three companies will conduct front-end engineering of the plant in 2022, which will have an annual capacity of 80,000 tonnes, the companies said. A final investment decision for the project is expected in early 2023. Based on lessons learned from Quantafuel's first full-scale commercial plant in Skive, Denmark, the partners have agreed to share the plant's development costs. Italian engineering and construction company Saipem has been selected as the feed service provider for the project.

Dubai's circular economy

The agreement is an important step towards cooperation that will promote the advancement of sustainable technologies and contribute to the realization of a circular economy in the UAE, said Ahmadbin Fahad, CEO of Dubal Holding, which is part of the investment in Dubai-based companies. Dubai, the business and tourism hub of the Middle East, is taking various measures to protect the environment. Last month, it imposed a new fee of 25 fils on all single-use plastic bags to reduce waste in the emirate.

The UAE is also working on other environmental projects. Earlier in 2022, Sharjah launched the region's first waste-to-energy plant, which will be able to divert up to 300,000 tonnes of waste from landfill a year.

The plant was built by Emirates Waste to Energy, a joint venture between Sharjah environmental management company Beeah and Abu Dhabi renewable energy company Masdar. Abu Dhabi also plans to develop a waste-to-energy independent power project at Al Dhafra. Emirates Hydro and the Abu Dhabi Waste Management Centre released a call for proposals for the new project last month. Keywords: engineering news, overseas news

The moves come as the UAE announced plans to become carbon neutral by 2050. It will invest $163 billion in clean and renewable energy projects over the next three years.Editor/XingWentao