Pyrolysis Oil in Focus: Feedstocks, Fuels, and Sustainability Gains

In this episode of Assurance in Action, we explore the transformative potential of pyrolysis oil—a key innovation driving the circular economy. Liam Mills, an expert from Intertek Caleb Brett, breaks down the science behind pyrolysis, the variety of feedstocks it can process, and its current and future applications—from power generation to advanced chemical recycling. Tune in to understand how this technology supports sustainable waste management and reduces reliance on fossil fuels. 

For more information:

• Visit our website: Pyrolysis Oil Testing
• Email us: cb.marketing@intertek.com

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Transcript

Host (Refaya):
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Assurance in Action, the podcast where we explore the science, innovation, and sustainability efforts shaping a cleaner, smarter future. I’m your host, Refaya Zaman Priya—and today, in honor of Earth Day, we’re turning the spotlight on a powerful technology that’s helping the world rethink waste: pyrolysis. 

 As the demand for renewable and circular solutions continues to grow, pyrolysis is making headlines as a promising method to transform hard-to-recycle materials—like plastics, tires, and biomass—into something incredibly valuable: pyrolysis oil. This oil can be refined into fuels, chemicals, and even components for sustainable aviation fuel, opening up exciting new pathways for energy and material recovery. 

But how does it actually work? What are the feedstocks? And why is this process a key player in our transition to a circular economy? 

To walk us through all of this and more, I’m handing things over to our expert from Intertek Caleb Brett, Liam Mills, a Sustainable Hydrocarbon Specialist. Liam, over to you. 

Liam Mills  (Expert)

So let me kick off with the basics and discuss actually what pyrolysis is. Generally, the term is an umbrella term for a number of different processes, but generally all of them convert solids into liquid hydrocarbons.  And the target for these is either hard to recycle items which may be crude oil derived, bio-based materials, or even a mixture of the two. 

Paralysis is the heating of these waste in an oxygen free environment, although there is complementary processes such as hydrothermal liquefaction which uses hot pressurized water to produce the same outcome. 

Both produce a product which is akin to a crude oil and can be upgraded in a traditional oil refinery into products that we use everyday. It's one of the more versatile technologies out there for transforming waste into valuable products. 

So the feed, what feedstocks are we? Are we thinking about using in these in these processes? 

Well, there's quite a few actually, but generally they fall under three main areas: 

1. Biomass: So, biomass may be a waste product from something like the timber industry, where a lot of sawdust is produced, and there's a need to recycle this product.  
2. Tires: So used tires are a significant problem when it comes to recycling and there's a need to actually process these into something more usable.  
3. Hard-to-recycle plastics: And the other one is hard to hard to recycle plastics. The hard plastics that you can't put in your recycling bins at home, etc.  

But once these have been processed, where do they actually go?  

At the moment, a lot of the production is actually going into energy production, producing electricity and preventing the products going into landfill. But in reality, there's a numerous different streams where these products can go. 

For example, waste plastic has probably come from crude oil, so therefore using it as a fuel source is not the most sustainable solution. 

However, waste plastic pyrolysis oil can be used as a feedstock to produce new plastics, creating a circular economy where the recycling goes back into the production and produces new plastics and keeps going round in a circular motion. 

I mentioned tires already tires are partially biogenic in that they have a large proportion of natural rubber within them, so therefore the materials that they do produce do have a a greenhouse gas emission saving over a similar crude oil derived fuel. 

So, these products can actually be very useful in the move towards net zero fuels. 

And obviously biomass is fully biogenic, so any hydrocarbons that you can produce from biomass is obviously beneficial to reduce the to reduce crude oil usage across the board. Obviously the one that everyone is thinking about at the moment is sustainable aviation fuel. 

There's currently no real route to be able to convert this solid waste into sustainable aviation fuel. However, there are numerous pathways that are currently under development and under review to actually push these push these processes forward. 

As I said, pyrolysis helps to reduce the reliance on crude oil and provides a useful material that are typically non-recyclable. Many of the many feedstocks contain biogenic content and there's also a reduction in so. There's all sorry many of the feedstocks contain biogenic content. So. 

So overall, there's a reduction in greenhouse gases, which is obviously a big sustainability saving for industry. These processes are a smart way to manage waste and move it towards a either a solar economy or biogenic fuels. 

Host (Closing):
That’s some incredible insights! And that wraps up today’s episode of Assurance in Action. A big thank you to Liam Mills for sharing such valuable insights into the science and potential of pyrolysis oil. From transforming difficult-to-recycle waste into usable fuels, to its role in supporting circular economies and reducing greenhouse gas emissions—it's clear that pyrolysis isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a meaningful part of our sustainable energy future. 

As we heard, pyrolysis oil is already powering heat and electricity, being integrated into traditional refineries, and showing promise for use in more advanced applications like sustainable aviation fuel. It's innovation like this that reminds us how critical technology is in tackling climate challenges head-on. 

Hope you found this episode insightful. On our next episode, we’ll be digging deeper into the global market trends, regulatory considerations, and key challenges in scaling this technology. So make sure to follow and subscribe to stay tuned! 

Thanks again for joining us, and until next time—Thank you!