Green news: Aduro completes pilot unit for water-based recycling of plastics; CJ Biomaterials partners with South Korean research council to promote PHA technology

Aduro Clean Technologies, a Canadian developer of patented water-based technologies to chemically recycle plastics and transform heavy crude and renewable oils into new-era resources and higher-value fuels, says it has completed construction and mechanical assembly of its pilot-scale Hydrochemolytic continuous flow plastic (R2 Plastic) reactor.

Aduro says its hydrochemolytic technology is significantly more energy efficient than established alternatives because of the relatively low operating temperatures.

Plans for testing and certifications are in place and final certification by the Technical Standard and Safety Authority is progressing with registration. Once certified, the reactor unit will be moved to the newly expanded laboratory in London, Ontario for final testing and commissioning.

The R2 Plastic unit is the company’s customer engagement unit and is designed to handle various plastic feedstocks such as PE, PP and PS as single-stream materials, followed by a mixture of these feedstock streams.

The R2 Plastic will also be used to evaluate the impact of materials found in multilayer plastics, such as paper, paper board, polymeric materials, metallised layers, and aluminium foil, effectively advancing Aduro’s plans of processing higher contaminated materials which are currently rejected by existing technologies. This will support the company’s established scale-up and optimisation program for the scaled-up pilot: R3 Plastic.

In 2022, the Company undertook several projects including the construction of both the plastic upcycling and bitumen upgrading reactor units, the construction of a flash drum unit for pre-processing bitumen feedstock, and the expansion of laboratory facilities and laboratory capabilities that will centralise the its resources for more efficient execution of R&D, scale-up and commercialisation plans.

Completion of these projects positions the company to execute in 2023 the R2 reactor research and testing optimisation program, the implementation of the customer engagement program and the delivery of reactor unit design, equipment procurement, fabrication, and commissioning of the scaled-up pre-commercial R3 Reactor unit.

In other news, CJ Biomaterials, a division of South Korea-based CJ CheilJedang and producer of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), says it has partnered with the South Korea Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the Korea Innovation Foundation (Innopolis) to actively promote the eco-friendly materials industry, including PHA technology. CJ Biomaterials’ PHA product, known as Phact, is a 100% bio-based polyester produced by fermentation.

CJ Biomaterials will participate in the Bioplastic Future Tech Forum for Special R&D Zone hosted by the MSIT and Innopolis. This is an industry-university research consultative body based in South Korea that welcomes participation from domestic and foreign companies. Organisations involved in the foundation work together to accelerate the development of low carbon, bio-based materials like Phact through expanded R&D and product demonstration.

Before the launch of this consultancy organisation, it was difficult to verify the compostability of biodegradable materials, due to the need for separate plastic discharge and recycling systems. CJ Biomaterials and other organisations working with the foundation can now test their bio-based materials in food waste treatment facilities, check how effectively they are composting, and receive certification from the Foundation, based on the results.

Through the affiliation with the MSIT, participants can also experiment with the methane gas that is generated when their eco-friendly materials decompose, possibly creating a value chain by collecting waste from restaurants, coffee shops, and movie theatres, processing it into methane gas, and selling the gas to facilities that need it.

In this program, the gas will be used by a dormitory at Incheon University. Based on the data that will be obtained through various R&D and verification processes, the foundation may also recommend related system improvements and policy proposals to accelerate the adoption and use of eco-friendly materials.

Earlier this year, CJ Biomaterials announced commercial-scale production of PHA following the inauguration of its production facility in Pasuruan, Indonesia. It adds it is the only company in the world producing amorphous PHA (aPHA), including the first product under its new Phact brand, named Phact A1000P.

Amorphous PHA is a softer, more rubbery version of PHA that offers fundamentally different performance characteristics than crystalline or semi-crystalline forms of PHA. It is TUV certified marine and soil biodegradable and home and industrial compostable. Modifying polymers and other biopolymers, such as polylactic acid (PLA) with amorphous PHA leads to improvements in mechanical properties, such as toughness, and ductility, while maintaining clarity.

Last month, CJ Biomaterials announced that it had signed a Master Collaboration Agreement (MCA) with NatureWorks that calls for the two organisations to work together to develop sustainable materials solutions based on CJ Biomaterials’ Phact polymers and NatureWorks Ingeo biopolymers. The two companies will develop high-performance biopolymer solutions that will replace fossil-fuel based plastics in applications ranging from compostable food packaging and food serviceware to personal care, films, and other end products.

(PRA)

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