Taking Over From a Founder CEO: Ian Temperton on Scaling Plastic Energy
Podcast Episode Description:
Ian Temperton became CEO of Plastic Energy in 2021 after five years as Chief Investment Officer. He replaced founder Carlos Monreal at a critical moment: scaling the business while executing major projects with SABIC and TotalEnergies.
This is what happens when the externally appointed CEO works.
The transition
Ian joined to raise capital but spent five years learning the business – technology, operations, partnerships. He stepped in as CEO mid-deployment, when execution and governance became decisive.
The team didn’t change. The mandate did: deliver at scale.
The technology
Plastic Energy converts mixed plastic waste into TACOIL, a virgin‑quality feedstock for new plastics.
The breakthrough isn’t pyrolysis – it’s making it work reliably with contaminated waste at industrial scale.
Spain is the proof: plants running continuously for nearly a decade.
Lab vs production
Early mistakes came from moving too fast.
Now: Loughborough (innovation) → Spain (industrial validation) → global deployment.
Execution
The hard part isn’t chemistry. It’s delivery.
Building large plants on legacy petrochemical sites – highly regulated, capital intensive, operationally complex.
Convincing partners
Partners need three things:
Operating proof
Reliable product supply
Integration into existing systems
Spain delivers all three.
Regulation
EU recycled content mandates will drive exponential demand.
Mass balance underpins it – unsexy, but essential for scaling capital.
Innovation vs rigour
At lab scale: move fast.
At plant scale: don’t make expensive mistakes.
The balance shifts as you scale.
Where they are now
From Spain to the Netherlands, France, and Malaysia – moving from tens to hundreds of thousands of tonnes.
The next phase: industrial scale, globally.
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