The present invention relates to a process for the production of propylene-based polymers from waste plastics feedstocks comprising the steps in this order of: (a) providing a
hydrocarbon stream A obtained by hydrotreatment of a
pyrolysis oil produced from a waste plastics feedstock; (b) optionally providing a
hydrocarbon stream B; (c) supplying a feed C comprising a fraction of the
hydrocarbon stream A and optionally a fraction of the hydrocarbon stream B to a thermal cracker furnace comprising
cracking coil(s); (d) performing a thermal
cracking operation in the presence of steam to obtain a cracked hydrocarbon stream D; (e) supplying the cracked hydrocarbon stream D to a separation unit; (f) performing a separation operation in the separation unit to obtain a product stream E comprising propylene; (g) supplying the product stream E to a polymerisation reactor; and (h) performing a polymerisation reaction in the polymerisation reactor to obtain an propylene-based
polymer; wherein in step (d): • the coil outlet temperature is ≥ 800 and ≤ 850 °C, preferably ≥ 805 and ≤ 835 °C; and • the weight ratio of steam to feed C is > 0.3 and < 0.8. Such process allows for optimisation of the quantity of waste plastic material that finds its way back into a
polypropylene that is produced as outcome of the process. The higher that quantity is, i.e. the higher the quantity of chemical building blocks that are present in the waste plastic material that are converted to the produced
polypropylene, the better the
sustainability footprint of the process is. The process allows for circular utilisation of plastics. In addition, the process allows for increased efficiency in the production of
polypropylene in that the fraction of propylene in the cracked hydrocarbon stream D is increased. A further
advantage of the process of the present invention is that the overall
energy consumption towards polypropylene is reduced.