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Pastimes : Plastics to Oil - Pyrolysis and Secret Catalysts and Alterna -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SteveF who wrote (7427)	5/20/2011 12:10:37 PM
From: scion	Respond to of 53574

No plastic is junk in pilot program Company, Stow to work on transforming waste By Katie Byard Beacon Journal business writer Published on Saturday, Apr 30, 2011 ohio.com Plastic dolls and electronic parts, carpets — even tires. Soon, some residents of Stow will be asked to toss all traditionally ''unrecyclable'' polymer waste in a recycle bin. Akron startup company Polyflow LLC wants the waste for its process that converts all kinds of plastic back into raw materials for transportation fuels and new plastics. ''The world likes to throw away a lot of plastic,'' Polyflow CEO Jay Schabel said. ''We use it. We're the bottom feeders in the polymer world.'' Polyflow, a tiny company in the research and development stage, plans to use polymer waste generated in Stow to demonstrate to potential investors that its technology can work in a full-scale commercial plant. The project got a boost earlier this month when it landed a $1.6 million grant from Ohio's Third Frontier economic development program. Stow set aside $25,000 in Stow Community Improvement Corp. funds for a pilot program that would encourage residents in a designated area to recycle all of their polymer waste. ''We want to see how it works and see what types of issues we encounter,'' before extending the program to a bigger area, said Mike Weddle, Stow's economic development coordinator. Weddle said such a program ''sounds simple,'' but it isn't. Residents of Stow — and cities across the country — are used to putting only certain types of plastic in recycle bins, he said. ''Changing the mind-set is going to take an education program,'' he said. Schabel said the Stow pilot probably will begin sometime late this year. Nationwide, only about 7 percent of all plastic waste generated in 2009 was recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Polyflow likes to tout its technology as a way to keep the waste out of landfills, as well as reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil. The company's process produces a liquid that contains chemicals, such as styrene and toluene — used in the manufacturing of ''new'' plastics and rubber. Normally, these chemicals would come from crude oil and natural gas. Schabel said $1 million of the $1.6 million grant from the state's Third Frontier program will be used for the construction of a demonstration processor. The remaining $600,000 will go to Youngstown State University, which will provide testing and analysis of Polyflow liquid. Other partners in the project are two companies that generate polymer waste. Schabel hopes potential investors will ''open their checkbooks'' once they see the full-scale demonstration facility and provide enough money to build a commercial plant that would run 24 hours a day. He estimated $8 million is needed from investors. Weddle said Stow wants to be considered for any such plant. Polyflow now has a pilot processor — used for small-scale demonstrations — on property it leases from the city of Akron. That processor proved the technology worked and attracted early stage investment money, Schabel said. With the state money, Polyflow now can ''prove out the technology at full scale. That's the last remaining question mark for investors,'' he said. Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. ohio.com