Tokarz launches new catalytic plastics recycling technology

21 November 2006 – The Polish company Tokarz from Belchatow presented its new T-Technology process at the Entsorga recycling fair held recently in Cologne. The technology converts plastics waste through depolymerisation into liquid fuels or optionally into an oil fraction, operating without the need for increased pressure.

The company perceives T-Technology an alternative to granulation or incineration of plastics waste, as the process converts the material back into its original form, namely “a mixture of gaseous fraction hydrocarbons with chain lengths from C1 to C4, which can be further processed in refineries or used in a form of a fuel oil fraction for heating houses”.

Apart from PE and PP content, Tokarz’s processing line as presented at Entsorga can accept up to 25% of other plastic waste within the total mass of the waste material and can handle highly contaminated and mixed plastics of variable quality.

Tokarz built the first prototype reactor in February 2005 and the first commercial scale T-Technology reactor was set up at a customer by May 2005.

Between 360 and 450 tonnes/month of plastic waste can be processed using the Tokarz technology with two modules, each module “requiring only the energy generated by 20 litres of fuel oil per hour and 30kW/h of electricity”, the company states, adding that its process can be used economically on a smaller scale than other industrial depolymerisation processes.