Agri-Plas is set to make its second shipment of crude oil derived from recycled plastic this month. The Oregon-based plastics recycler, which handles about 18 million tons of plastic a year, sent its first 8,200-gallon shipment in December.
The company is using technology developed by Plas2Fuel, a Kelso, Wash. company, to turn dirty, low-value and typically non-recycled plastics into crude oil that can be refined and used in other applications.
Agri-Plas handles all plastics except for PVC. Much of the material gets recycled and is used in making new products like nursery pots. But some materials lend themselves less to being used in new products, or they carry little recycling value. That includes agricultural film, greenhouse and ground cover, nursery pots and trays, bailing twine and prepackaged food containers.
Using a plastic-to-oil converting unit from Plas2Fuel, Agri-Plas turns the plastic into synthetic crude oil and ships it to a refinery in Tacoma, Wash., and it can then be use in making plastic products or lubricants, gasoline and other petroleum-based products.
The first shipment was equivalent to 196 barrel of oil, and Agri-Plas expects to send another full tanker this month.
Agri-Plas plans to add three more plastic-to-oil converting units to make one full system at its current production plant. The company also plans to break ground this year on a new facility that will eventually house five full plastic-to-oil systems, and in a year they hope to be pumping out enough crude oil to deliver one full tanker a day.
Oil barrels - CC license by ezioman
