Anellotech (Pearl River, New York / USA; www.anellotech.com) has developed the “Plas-TCat” process to convert mixed-waste plastics directly into commodity chemicals such as olefins, alkanes and aromatics benzene, toluene and xylene. These can be used to make new polymers such as PET, polycarbonate, polystyrene, polyamide and polyurethane.

Anellotech’s existing “Thermal Catalytic Biomass Conversion (Bio-TCat)” process technology, which produces bio-based chemicals and biofuels from feedstocks such as wood, corn and bagasse, is leveraged in the development of its Plas-TCat process. Bio-TCat converts the renewable materials in one step and is said to be less expensive than processes relying on sugar as a feedstock. The process takes place in a single fluid bed reactor that employs pyrolysis using a zeolite catalyst – see Plasteurope.com of 05.06.2014 – producing a mixture of benzene, toluene and xylene which the company calls “AnelloMate BTX”.

Plas-TCat has the potential to cost-effectively transform plastics waste such as composite films, mixed plastics and plastics with biomass – such as paper Labels – directly into valuable chemicals, according to David Sudolsky, president and CEO. “It can handle oxygenated polymers, an important advantage over pyrolysis processes that produce complex oil mixtures which require upgrading and additional conversion in steam crackers,” said Sudolsky. The approximately 95% of plastic packaging material that ends up in combustors, landfills or in the ocean after a single use is the target feedstock for Plas-TCat.

Encouraging results from lab studies of the Plas-TCat process at Anellotech’s TCat-8 pilot plant in Silsbee, Texas / USA prompted the company to expand its development programme to ensure the process is robust and capable of converting “real-world” plastics waste feedstocks with impurities long term. Anellotech will use its Bio-TCat lab and TCat-8 pilot plant to eventually develop and design a commercial plant to scale up. Anellotech said on its website that the TCat-8 pilot plant surpassed 5,000 hours of on-stream operation in July and achieved commercially targeted yields. Construction of its first commercial plant is planned to begin in the second half of 2020.