Encina Development Group will add to its Corpus Christi, Texas, facility under the program with Flint Hills Resources.
Materials and energy maker Flint Hills Resources is working with Encina Development Group to make renewable chemicals and renewable fuels from waste plastic.
The firms plan to enter into a definitive agreement that includes building a renewable fuels plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, to turn waste plastic into renewable chemicals, according to a Feb. 16 news release.
Flint Hills of Wichita, Kan., will market the renewable aromatic products produced at the Encina Corpus Christi facility, as well as work with affiliates to market renewable aromatic products from other Encina plants in the U.S.
Flint Hills owns the Corpus Christi refineries, which supply fuels for the Texas market including the San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. The refineries also make various commodity chemicals.
"Our work with Encina is an exciting addition to our growing portfolio of renewable product and technology investments," Francis Murphy, Flint Hills chemicals senior vice president, said in the release.
He added that renewable aromatics and bioplastics "are playing an increasingly import role in the product value chain and reducing environmental impacts while still delivering on all the various products that make modern life possible."
Encina Executive Director David Schwedel said in the release that Flint Hills is an excellent partner for his firm. Flint Hills "has deep domain industry expertise, and an aligned focus on delivering highly-valued and sustainable products to the marketplace," he added.
Flint Hills is owned by industrial conglomerate Koch Industries Inc. The firm makes polypropylene resin at a plant in Longview, Texas.
Encina of The Woodlands, Texas, has proprietary technology to convert mixed plastic waste into a renewable source of industrial base chemicals and fuels. The technology is based on catalytic pyrolysis and uses non-recyclable mixed post-consumer plastics. Encina plans to build a similar facility in the U.S. through a partnership with PP producer Braskem SA.