Circular chemicals or polymers from pyrolyzed plastic waste and the use of mass balance accounting to allow for crediting the resultant products as circular

A process for producing chemicals or polymers from plastic waste, the process comprising:

• (a) providing a pyrolysis oil from plastic waste;
• (b) providing a petroleum-based feed, a fossil fuel-based feed, or a bio-based feed;
• (c) introducing the pyrolysis oil and the petroleum-based feed, the fossil fuel-based feed, or the bio-based feed, each at a known feed rate, into a primary processing unit selected from a steam cracker, thereby providing a primary processing unit feed comprising the pyrolysis oil in a known concentration;
• and
• (d) converting the primary processing unit feed into a primary processing unit output stream comprising circular ethylene, wherein the weight or the fraction of the circular ethylene attributable to the pyrolysis oil or plastic waste is determined by mass balance;
• (e) transferring the circular ethylene to one or more secondary processing units comprising an olefin oligomerization unit, thereby providing one or more secondary processing unit feeds comprising the circular ethylene in a known concentration;
• (f) converting the one or more secondary processing unit feeds into one or more secondary processing unit output streams comprising at least one circular alpha-olefin selected from 1-butene, 1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-decene, 1-dodecene, 1-tetradecene, 1-hexadecene, 1-octadecene, or combinations thereof, wherein the weight or the fraction of each circular product attributable to the pyrolysis oil or plastic waste is determined by mass balance;
• (g) transferring the circular alpha-olefin to one or more tertiary processing units selected from an olefin polymerization reactor or an olefin oligomerization unit, thereby providing one or more tertiary processing unit feeds, each comprising the circular alpha-olefin in a known concentration;
• and
• (h) converting the one or more tertiary processing unit feeds into one or more subsequent processing unit output streams comprising at least one circular product selected from a circular alpha-olefin polymer or a circular alpha-olefin oligomer, wherein the weight or the fraction of each circular product attributable to the pyrolysis oil or plastic waste is determined by mass balance.