Page 167 - CW E-Magazine (16-1-2024)

News from Abroad

CLEAN & GREEN PROCESS
AHFL targets UK for setting up plastic-to-fuel plant

Advanced Hydrocarbon Fuels Ltd.
(AHFL) has zeroed in on the UK as
the home of the fi rst commercial-scale
plant to demonstrate its process to
create fuel from waste plastic.

AHFL claims its process is the fi rst
of its kind not to require use of a cata-
lyst or incineration and thus solves the
decades-old environmental, practical
and commercial issues associated with
pyrolysis, the process commonly used
to break down plastic.

AHFL says this technological inno-
vation will enable AHFL’s plant
to operate continuously, working to
eliminate plastic waste, while produc- that scientists and businesses have been problematic processes and towards
ing alternative fuel in a cleaner, greener, attempting to solve for years without the creation of products with multiple
commercially sustainable manner. success. For the past two decades we essential utilities and a fraction of the
Also, it says that unlike almost all other have witnessed countless attempts environmental impact,” said Mr. Ablett.
attempts to make fuel From waste plas- to turn plastic into energy through
tic, this process is profi table with a capi- pyrolysis, and other non-commercial, AHFL is now seeking funding to
tal payback estimated to be as short as non-sustainable processes, and these build its fi rst full-scale commercial
18 months from the start of production. have invariably proven ineffi cient, demonstration line in the UK, followed
expensive, unproductive or even down- by the installation of additional lines
AHFL’s process breaks down plas- right dangerous. AHFL will allow us growing to multi-line plants around the
tic through energy-effi cient ‘gasifi ca- to divert our energy away from these world.
tion’, at a much lower temperature and
without the harmful emissions associa- Romania’s Chimcomplex gets govt.
ted with incineration and other forms of
extreme heating. aid to set up epoxy resin unit

The technology has been evaluated Chimcomplex,
by leading engineering fi rm, Wood plc, the biggest chemical
through extensive testing at AHFL’s producer in Romania,
prototype plant in the Southern US, has signed a fi nanc-
which enabled a detailed and compre- ing agreement with
hensive report confi rming ‘Proof of the Romanian Minis-
Concept’. try of Economy for
the development of a
AHFL was founded by Mr. Brian new production unit
Ablett, a UK-based inventor and entrepre- for epoxy resins.
neur, who began his career starting com-
panies as a teenager in his native Canada. The group’s total
investment in the project amounts to €100-mn), of which RON 195-mn
“AHFL is the solution to a problem Romanian Luew (RON) 490-mn (around (€40-mn) will come from the state.

Chemical Weekly January 16, 2024 167

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