ReNew ELP, based in the Wilton Centre, plans to build and operate new plastic recycling plants in the UK, using a breakthrough technology Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR) to chemically recycle end-of-life plastics into valuable oils and chemicals.
Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR) technology’ uses water at high pressure and high temperatures to chemically recycle a wide range of feedstocks – including end-of-life plastics and used tyres– into stable synthetic oils and valuable chemicals.
Richard Daley, Managing Director, ReNew ELP, said, “Our technology provides an innovative solution to the global problem of end-of-life plastic disposal and contributes to the creation of a circular economy. Our technology is unique when compared to every other thermal conversion process, as it uses water as the ‘agent of change’, so the plant can operate at far lower temperatures making it more efficient than pyrolysis or gasification. In addition, there is no need to dry the feedstock prior to treatment, which significantly reduces operating costs versus alternative technologies, and the process does not produce dioxins or other toxic compounds.”
Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR) technology, developed by Australian company Licella and patented by ReNew ELP, has already been extensively tested at a pilot plant in Australia. A wide range of plastics are broken by the Cat-HTR process to their original component molecules and then rearranged to turn the waste plastic into readily usable chemicals and recycled oils.
ReNew ELP is constructing its first commercial-scale Cat-HTR plant with an initial recycling capacity of 20,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of end-of-life plastics, extendable up to 80,000 tpa, at the Wilton international site in Teesside. The plant is scheduled to be on stream in late 2019.