Technip Energies, Anellotech developing plastic recycling technology

France-based engineering and technology company Technip Energies and Pearl River, New York-based Anellotech Inc. recently announced a global joint development agreement to advance and then license Anellotech’s Plas-TCat process, a one-step thermal-catalytic recycling technology that converts mixed plastic scrap back into its constituent basic chemicals, with a specific focus to benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) that can be used to make most virgin plastics.

The companies say they will bring their combined process technology expertise and complete comprehensive performance trials at Anellotech’s 100 ton-per-year nameplate feed rate demonstration plant in Silsbee, Texas. It will incorporate Technip’s downstream processing units, leading to a process design for use by Technip in its role as the global Plas-TCat licensor.

The companies say the Plas-TCat process can feed all major plastics with predictable end-product yields. This process can reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 50 percent compared to the production of virgin monomers in naphtha crackers.

Bhaskar Patel, senior vice president of sustainable fuels, chemicals and circularity at Technip, says his company is delighted to work with Anellotech to advance the Plas-TCat process.

“Anellotech’s technology brings a new pathway towards solving the plastic waste problem, converting the mixed plastic waste into useful end products,” Patel says. “For us, this is another opportunity to contribute to the circular economy, including now in Japan.”

Anellotech founder, President and CEO David Sudolsky says, “This collaboration will provide the scalable, cost-efficient, attractive LCA solution needed to address plastic sustainability. Together with our strategic funding partner R Plus Japan Ltd., we will work towards accelerating the global licensing and commercialization of the Plas-TCat process.”