Research developments

New ACC alliance to promote plastics to fuel

Washington, D.C.-based American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) Plastics Division has formed a new group working to enhance public policy supporting technologies that convert nonrecycled plastics into petroleum-based products.

The group, the Plastics-to-Oil Technologies Alliance, will work to increase awareness of the benefits of plastics-to-oil technologies, enhance the industry’s voice through expanded membership and demonstrate broad support for plastics-to-oil technologies through an expanding network of allies, the ACC says.

Founding members of the group include Agilyx Corp., Beaverton, Ore.; Cynar Plc, London; and RES Polyflow, Akron, Ohio. The ACC says membership is open to all entities that develop and implement technologies to convert nonrecycled plastics into petroleum and petroleum-based products.

Jon Angin, vice president of business development at Agilyx and chairman of the new alliance, says, “Plastics-to-oil technologies are a promising solution for repurposing used plastics that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

“The technologies becoming available now are poised to take advantage of an abundant, domestic alternative energy source, while helping to reduce waste,” Angin adds.

“When recycling isn’t an economically or environmentally feasible option, there is enormous potential to transform used plastics into energy,” says Steve Russell, vice president of plastics for the ACC. “The members of ACC’s new Plastics-to-Oil Technologies Alliance are helping to make this happen.”

Rockwell Automation lands contract to construct commercial-scale conversion plant

Rockwell Automation, Milwaukee, Wis., has won a $15 million engineering, procurement, construction and management contract from Vadxx Energy LLC for its first commercial-scale, plastic waste-to-synthetic crude energy facility in Akron, Ohio. When fully operational, the facility will convert about 60 tons per day of plastic scrap into a fuel product.

The Akron facility will include Rockwell’s PlantPAx Process Automation System suite, described as a multidiscipline control platform.

The private equity firm Liberation Capital, Charlotte, N.C., has signed an agreement with Vadxx to fund the first unit and additional commercial units.

“Vadxx is focused on successfully establishing our first commercial unit as the important first step toward global expansion,” says Jim Garrett, CEO of Vadxx Energy. “Liberation Capital, Rockwell Automation, feedstock suppliers and other partners will play key roles in our growth and success.”

“Our technology represents a unique and profitable way to decrease the amount of end-of-life plastics that are disposed in landfills and convert them to synthetic oil and gas,” says Jeremy DeBenedictis, vice president of operations for Vadxx. “Rockwell Automation strengthens our technology by providing complete design, build and commissioning of our new plant.”

Waste biomass demonstration facility being built in Georgia

Concord Blue USA Inc., headquartered in Los Angeles, and Lanza-Tech, with U.S. operations in Roselle, Ill., have agreed to integrate their technologies to demonstrate the production of fuels and chemicals from waste materials.

LanzaTech will install a Concord Blue Reformer at its Freedom Pines facility in Soperton, Ga., that will allow it to convert waste biomass from regional forestry operations into syngas. The syngas will be converted by LanzaTech’s gas fermentation process into biofuels and chemicals.

The integration and testing at Freedom Pines will help move the process toward full commercialization of the integrated technologies that both companies have under contract and in development, according to LanzaTech.

“As the U.S. continues to diversify its energy mix and produce more domestic energy, low carbon fuels derived from waste woody biomass and municipal solid waste will play an increasingly important role,” says Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech. “Our partnership with Concord Blue will enable us to extend our technology to these important resources.”

Concord Blue has developed a closed-loop, nonincineration process that recycles most forms of waste, including landfill waste and sewage sludge, into energy at various scales, the company says.

LanzaTech’s technology has earned a global sustainability certification from the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials at a precommercial facility in China.

“This partnership and demonstration facility lays the foundation for the development of larger projects we have been awarded, like the Four Forests Restoration Initiative (4FRI),” says Charlie Thannhaeuser, chairman and CEO of Concord Blue.