US-based plastics recycling start-up Encina plans to produce benzene, toluene and mixed xylenes (BTX) as well as propylene from its planned new USD1.1bn project in Point Township, Pennsylvania, US, said the company.
The Point Township Circular Manufacturing Facility would use Encina’s proprietary fluidized catalytic system and consume 450,000 tonnes/year of mixed waste plastics, a company spokesperson confirmed. Construction is expected to begin in the autumn of 2022, and the facility is expected to be fully operational by the autumn of 2024.
The USD1.1bn in funding is being managed through Encina’s investment banker Morgan Stanley, where it expects a combination of equity from institutional investors and project debt through conventional project lending, according to the spokesperson. Encina would source post-consumer plastic waste as well as scrap plastics from other sources.
Encina’s catalytic reforming of the plastic waste feedstock forms a stream of aromatics which then can be extracted, and delivered to customers in their improved form of high-quality ASTM grade circular chemicals, according to the company.
In February, Encina announced that Technip Energies would design the commercial unit for its process. In January, it announced that Sulzer Chemtech will provide the technology to recover high-purity circular aromatics from its catalytic conversion platform. The primary output would be BTX which can be used by customers to meet their circularity goals in sectors such as consumer products, health care, pharmaceuticals and construction materials. The company would not specify the output capacity.
In February 2021, Encina announced the signing of a non-binding term sheet with Flint Hills Resources to produce renewable chemicals and fuels from waste plastic. The term sheet noted the parties may enter into a definitive agreement that includes building a waste plastic to renewable chemicals and fuels plant in Corpus Christi, Texas.
In December 2020, Braskem America announced its intent to develop a long-term relationship with Encina to enabling the production of recycled polypropylene (PP).
mrchub.com