Electricity from Plastic & Rubbish

Australia-based Licella is the world leader in hydrothermal liquefaction.   Their patented, next-generation Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR) technology produces the most oil of any “plastic to oil technology” and is the only platform of its kind in existence.

Sure, I absolutely have a bias in favour of this company and the Australians who developed this technology, but it has taken a long time for them to get to this point, and I am so happy for them.

Cat-HTR uses pressure and water at near or supercritical temperatures to chemically change plastic back into the oil from which it originally came by severing its polymeric bonds. The hydrogen atoms are released, and the plastic is disassembled into its component parts.

As a result, a variety of substances are created, including waxes, oils, and plastics, which can later be transformed into other plastic goods or fuels. Cat-HTR, in contrast to other technologies, chemically recycles mixed plastics without the requirement of sorting out various plastic types.

The Cat-HTR process begins with the preparation of the feed, which is made up of a mixture of end-of-life and other formerly non-recyclable plastics.   It is then heated to a very high temperature and pressurised, mixed with water, and more pressure is added.   It then spends about 20 minutes in the reactors before being de-pressurized.   Approximately 15% of the output is gas, which is then used to power the process.   The remaining 85% of the output is HTL oil, also known as plasticrude, which can then be used to:

1.     As feedstock to make more plastics or

2.    Made into Bio Diesel and used to power 100% carbon neutral power plants, 20MW Wartsilla 50DF multi-fuel power plants.

With the advent of Cat-HTR, a chemical recycling method that creates a direct replacement for fossil fuels:

1.     The world’s plastic manufacturing industries now have another source of feedstock besides crude oil and natural gas.

2.    Where ever you build a Cat-HTR plant you can be generating electricity and feeding the grid.

    The thing about this technology that really excites me is that it could potentially turn mining plastics out of old landfills into a new mining boom all over the world.   This is in addition to diverting plastic that cannot be economically “mechanically recycled” from landfill or incineration.