2025.11.30 – Circtec’s Tyre-to-Chemicals Plant in Delfzijl/Farmsum—and the Meaning of Its Name

Key Takeaways

• Clear subject: Circtec is building a tyre-to-chemicals plant in Delfzijl/Farmsum, Netherlands, with Bilfinger as EPCM partner.
• Scale and aim: the facility targets about five percent of Europe’s end-of-life tyres.
• Status and timing: funding and contracts were announced in May and October 2024; construction is described in 2025 updates.
• Name insight: “Circtec” aligns with “circular technology,” matching how Dutch materials style the name.

Story & Details

A new plant on the North Sea coast. Circtec, a UK-based technology company, is building a plant in the Dutch chemical cluster at Delfzijl, next to the smaller locality of Farmsum. The site will process end-of-life tyres through pyrolysis. In plain terms, tyres are heated without oxygen. This makes gases, oils and solid material that can be upgraded into fuels and chemicals.

A major integration role. Industrial services group Bilfinger holds an EPCM mandate. That means it engineers the design, buys key equipment and manages construction for the owner. Sources describe Bilfinger as the system integrator for Circtec’s proprietary process at the new facility.

Money and milestones. In May 2024, Novo Holdings and A.P. Moller Holding led an equity round to help fund the plant, together with Dutch public support. In October 2024, further financing notes and trade press reports reiterated the project’s scale. In February 2025, an investment agency update said construction had begun. These steps position the plant as one of Europe’s headline efforts to deal with used tyres at home, rather than shipping them abroad.

Scale and impact in simple numbers. Public materials say the plant, at full capacity, could handle about five percent of the roughly 3.6 million tonnes of tyres that reach end-of-life each year in Europe. That is a large share for a single site. It also shows why project partners present the plant as part of the circular economy: fewer tyres to burn or dump, more products made from what already exists.

What the name means. Official brochures and releases use “CIRCTEC” as a brand in uppercase, without a formal acronym line. Dutch hiring pages, however, write the name in a way that clearly signals “circular technology.” That reading matches the company’s mission and the plant’s purpose.

Conclusions

Circtec’s plant in Delfzijl/Farmsum is a simple story told at industrial scale: take a hard-to-recycle waste stream and turn it into useful products. Bilfinger’s EPCM role ties the parts together. Funding in 2024 and construction notes in 2025 suggest steady progress. The name points to the idea behind it all—circular technology—made concrete on the shores of the Netherlands.

Selected References

[1] Circtec — Company site: https://www.circtec.com/
[2] Circtec — Funding press release (PDF, May 2024): https://www.circtec.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Circtec-Novo-Press-Release.pdf
[3] Bilfinger — Press release on EPCM role (Jan 2024): https://www.bilfinger.com/en/news/press-releases/details/driving-the-circular-economy-bilfinger-spearheads-circtecs-pioneering-tire-recycling-plant-as-system-integrator/
[4] Invest in Holland — Article confirming Netherlands project (May 2024): https://investinholland.com/news/uk-based-circtec-launches-europes-largest-end-of-life-tyre-pyrolysis-recycling-facility-in-the-netherlands/
[5] Polestar Capital Circular Debt Fund — Note on Circtec facility scale (Oct 2024): https://www.pcdf.nl/news/pcdf-circtec
[6] YouTube — European Parliament: “The Circular Economy: EU’s Plan for a Greener Future” (context on EU policy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0zLVv8Z2EA
[7] Werken bij Circtec — Dutch hiring page styling the name as circular technology: https://werkenbijcirctec.nl/
[8] Invest in Holland — 2025 update noting construction: https://investinholland.com/news/invest-in-holland-2024-investments-drive-key-transitions-for-shared-value-in-the-netherlands/

Appendix

Bilfinger. An industrial services group appointed to deliver engineering, procurement and construction management for the plant.
Circtec. A UK-based technology company that converts end-of-life tyres into fuels and chemicals using pyrolysis.
Circular economy. An economic model that keeps materials in use for longer and cuts waste by design and reuse.
Delfzijl. A Dutch port city in the province of Groningen; home to a major chemical cluster.
End-of-life tyres. Tyres that can no longer be used on vehicles and must be treated, reused or recycled.
EPCM. A project delivery method in which an integrator engineers the design, procures equipment and manages construction for the owner.
Farmsum. A locality next to Delfzijl; many project notes use both names when describing the site area.
Pyrolysis. Heating material without oxygen to break it down into gases, oils and solids that can be further processed.