Anellotech develops direct route to light olefins, BTX from mixed plastic waste

For the first time, Anellotech has successfully achieved the continuous processing of solid, post-consumer plastic waste into light olefins and aromatics using its Plas-TCat technology. The waste consisted of a mixture of all major plastic types except PVC.

Plas-TCat is an emerging process technology developed to convert mixed waste plastics into commodity chemicals.

The processing trial took place at Anellotech´s TCat-8TM fully automated, 30 meter tall pilot plant near Houston, Texas. While that plant has a nameplate capacity of 0.5 tons per day, the design of Plas-TCat´s fluidized bed reactor is easily scalable, potentially enabling the realisation larger commercial production plants capable of addressing substantial global recycling goals in the future.

Plas-TCat employs  single thermal catalytic reactor to convert a broad range of mixed waste plastics into chemical feedstocks - benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) as well as ethylene, propylene and butylene (light olefins) - that can be used to make virgin-quality plastics. The development of a proprietary catalyst and fluid bed reactor-regenerator system, has opened up a new, direct route to light olefins and aromatics from heterogeneous plastic waste streams—without the need for steam cracker furnaces.

“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,” explained David Sudolsky, President and CEO of Anellotech.

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.

“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,” Sudolsky said.

Founded in 2008, Anellotech previously developed and patented its Bio-TCat technology, which is an efficient thermal catalytic process for converting biomass into drop-in benzene, toluene and xylene. In addition to BTX, Bio-TCat also produces heavier aromatics.