Startup turns landfill-bound plastics back into oil

[one...two...tree 2,762]

A fraction of plastics are recycled. The rest end up in landfills or in the world’s oceans. Agilyx, which recently raised $25 million from investors, has found a way to turn those hard-to-recycle plastics back into oil — where it might just end up fueling your car.

The Beaverton, Oregon startup said yesterday it has raised $25 million in a series C funding round led by new investor Keating Capital. Existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Saffron Hill Ventures, Waste Management — which has poured money into various waste-to-fuel startups — and Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Reference Capital and Total Energy Ventures also joined this latest round. Agilyx snapped up $22 million from investors back in March.

This latest round of raised money will be used to fund marketing, business development and the deployment of new projects. The money also will be used as Agilyx CEO Chris Ulum put it in a release to “build a war chest to continue to scale our operations.”

How the process works

Agilyx’s system can convert about 10 tons of plastic (see photo of plastics above) into approximately 60 barrels — or 2,400 gallons — of oil per day. Once processed, the synthetic crude is sent to a refinery in the Pacific Northwest, where it can be turned into a variety of fuels including gasoline.

The company uses anaerobic thermal reclamation process to convert plastics to oil. Meaning, heat without oxygen.

The conversion begins by heating up the plastics in a oxygen-less tank. As the hot air is recirculated around the large holding tanks, the plastic is turned from a solid to a liquid and eventually to a gas. These gases are pulled from the tank into a central condensing system, where they are cooled and condensed into synthetic crude. An “environmental control device,” scrubs all of the lightweight gases that don’t condense.

As of now, the company has produced and sold more than 250,000 gallons of crude oil, meaning its technology has recovered more than 2 million pounds of plastic that would otherwise have been incinerated or ended up in a landfill, according to Ulum.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/startup-turns-landfill-bound-plastics-back-into-oil/11477

[Obama 2012 1,714]

oh well. a shame they are banning plastics...

these look like more jobs idiot cities will be killing!

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

this idea i can agree with.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

oh well. a shame they are banning plastics...

these look like more jobs idiot cities will be killing!

Hopefully, you can begin to understand now how industry works. Catalytic converters wouldn't exist on cars without public policy. Just think of all the millions of cars that have catalytic converters = jobs.

I was bagging groceries when plastic bags first came online. All those plastic bags undermined the existing paper bag industry. That's how it works. Reasonably minded people can see the benefit in reducing landfills as well as reducing the amount of plastics that end up in our oceans.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

In one infamous slum, recycling of such plastics (albeit as other plastic products, not fuel oil) has been taking place for donkeys-years. Nice to see that it has been taken an extra step (and more sophisticatedly).

[Misha & Ira 113]

Finally an article I can agree with.

What are the by-products of this process? It was rather vague about that.

Gaseous plastic Yummy

I imagine it would be rather nasty if there some sort of mishap.

[kytwell 179]

Another market for collected plastic. Me likes.

[mawilson 2,133]

Of course, the question is, in converting plastics back into oil, did they use more energy than the oil they produced could generate?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

oh well. a shame they are banning plastics...

these look like more jobs idiot cities will be killing!

The expert on idiots has spoken.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Of course, the question is, in converting plastics back into oil, did they use more energy than the oil they produced could generate?

Well, they DO have a plentiful (albeit not necessarily very clean) energy-source at-hand (think recycle of 45% of the pile to oil, and combustion of the other 55%)

[Obama 2012 1,714]

The expert on idiots has spoken.

applauding yourself in threads again there spooks?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

applauding yourself in threads again there spooks?

I give credit where credit is due.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Eh, this would be an excellent addition to such cities as Mumbai (an additional business-line for many of its slums such as Dharavi--which I referred to earlier, albeit not by name), as it could meet part of their fuel-bills.