Technip Energies announces that it has signed an agreement with Encina Development Group, LLC (Encina) to deliver the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) of the fluidized bed catalytic pyrolysis reaction section for Encina’s commercial Plastic Fluid Catalytic Cracking (PFCC) unit to produce circular chemicals from plastic waste in North America, according to SpecialChem.
Encina utilizes a proprietary process to convert post-consumer scrap plastic to valuable circular chemical products. The process, called Plastic Fluid Catalytic Cracking (PFCC), converts mixed hard-to-recycle plastics into petrochemical feedstock such as light olefins and BTX aromatics.
These circular feedstock chemicals can be seamlessly dropped into the fabrication process of new consumer products, reducing the need for virgin materials, and significantly reducing waste plastics.
This FEED will leverage Technip Energies’ industry credentials and know-how in fluidized design, established in the Process Technology FCC program. Technip Energies has an extensive portfolio of licensed and engineered FCC units, including more than 60 grassroots and 250 revamps, demonstrating its process and mechanical design experience.
The company’s development team is committed to ongoing development initiatives in providing technology and engineering solutions to support the industry and its energy transition targets.
As MRC wrote before, Encina (The Woodlands, Texas) was founded to produce benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX) from coal, but the company made a sharp change in direction in October, 2019, after discovering that an alternative feedstock - plastic waste - dramatically improved the economics of its process. Advanced plans to build a coal-based facility in Wyoming have since been scrapped, and Encina will soon announce the location for a USD255-million, 100,000-metric tons/year plastics-to-BTX facility. “Our business plan is to have at least five operating facilities with expansion capabilities (located) globally to tackle the plastic problem,” says David Schwedel, founder and executive director in July, 2020. “We’re looking to do an IPO in about two years, and we’re positioning ourselves to be the go-to waste-plastics-to-chemical/fuels company in the world. That is our focus.”
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,265,290 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2021, up by 14% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,363,850 tonnes in January-November, 2021, up by 25% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
MRC