Anellotech Successfully Processes Plastic Waste into Light Olefins, Aromatics

Breakthrough Anellotech Successfully Processes Plastic Waste into Light Olefins, Aromatics

2022-10-25 Source: Press release Anellotech

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Anellotech, Inc.

EDL Anlagenbau Gesellschaft mbH

Pörner Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH

Anton Paar GmbH

Anellotech has demonstrated its new direct route to light olefins and BTX from conversion of mixed plastic waste. The firm’s Plas-Tcat catalytic pyrolysis technology was used for the demonstration which was carried out in a 0.5 tpd pilot plant.

The processing trial took place at Anellotech’s TCat-8 fully automated, 30 meter tall pilot plant near Houston, Texas, USA. (Source: Anellotech) — The processing trial took place at Anellotech’s TCat-8 fully automated, 30 meter tall pilot plant near Houston, Texas, USA.
(Source: Anellotech)

New York/USA – Anellotech has, for the first time, continuously processed solid, post-consumer plastic waste into light olefins and aromatics using its Plas-Tcat catalytic pyrolysis technology. The waste consisted of a mixture of all major plastic types (Figure 1), with the exception of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The processing trial took place at Anellotech’s Tcat8 fully automated, 30-meter-tall pilot plant near Houston, Texas (Figure 2). That plant’s nameplate capacity is 0.5 tons per day, and Plastcat’s scalable fluidized bed reactor design provides a path to larger commercial production plants capable of addressing substantial global recycling goals.

Figure 1: Waste Plastic Feedstock. (Source: Anellotech) — Figure 1: Waste Plastic Feedstock.
(Source: Anellotech)

Plas-Tcat employs one thermal catalytic reactor to convert a broad range of mixed waste plastics into the same valuable chemical feedstocks used today to make virgin plastics. These include benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) as well as ethylene, propylene and butylene (light olefins). Based on a proprietary catalyst and fluid bed reactor-regenerator system, Plastcat provides a new, direct route to light olefins and aromatics from heterogeneous plastic waste streams— without the need for steam cracker furnaces.

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The technology can effectively process a wide range of waste plastics, alone or within composites. This includes polyolefins, polyamides (nylon), Pet, polycarbonate and polystyrene. With the completion of these continuous process runs Plas-tcat is now at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6. Trials planned for later in 2022 will be run to confirm promising laboratory yields for Plas-tcat. “Plas-tcat is advantageous due to its high olefin and aromatic hydrocarbon selectivity, high scalability, broad feedstock tolerance, as well as its substantial carbon dioxide emissions savings compared to industrial steam crackers,” says David Sudolsky, President and CEO of Anellotech. “The Tcat-8 unit will be used in future month-long 24/7 trials to prove the robustness of the process and generate process performance data over an equilibrated catalyst, which are required to design a commercial plant.”

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