Need Assistance?..........Call (850) 386-6280
Need Assistance?..........Call (850) 386-6280
Need Assistance?..........Call (850) 386-6280
Need Assistance?..........Call (850) 386-6280
The Use of Agricultural Mulch Film in Advanced Recycling Processes
Dr. Robert C. Schucker, President, P2C Technology Corporation
Advanced (chemical) recycling of waste plastics involves the thermal or catalytic processing of
these materials at elevated temperatures in order to ultimately produce the building blocks
ethylene and propylene which can be polymerized to polyethylene and polypropylene for
blending with virgin products. This is almost universally a two-step process: (1) pyrolysis to
produce an oil intermediate (pyoil) and (2) conversion of the pyoil in a steam cracker or
fluidized catalytic cracker to lighter products. Major companies around the globe have each
committed to adding 1-3 million metric tons per year (450 – 1,360 KTA) to their products by
2030; and to accomplish those goals, plans to build major pyrolysis plants on the U. S. Gulf
Coast have been announced. The expectation is that these plants will require over 800 KTA
waste plastic feedstock; and agricultural plastics (mulch film, drip tape, polypipe) are an
excellent addition to these feeds. Unfortunately, the moisture, soil and organic matter in these
feeds mean that they may require a significant amount of cleanup, which increases their cost.
This talk will briefly cover the basic composition of agricultural plastics (which are almost
exclusively polyethylenes), how these polymers are converted in a pyrolysis unit and the kinds
of products that can be expected. Finally, the need for extensive cleaning will be discussed in
relation to the type of pyrolyzer used.
Dr. Robert (Bob) Schucker is a seasoned veteran of the chemical and petrochemical industries with forty-eight years of technical and managerial experience. He currently serves as the President of P2C Technology Corporation, a Texas corporation that consults with companies in the advanced (chemical) and mechanical recycling spaces.
Prior to assuming this role, Bob spent eight years with SABIC leading R&D teams involved in development of novel advanced recycling technology, oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) and oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene using oxygen ion transport membranes (ITM).
Prior to joining SABIC, for 13 years Bob served as the CEO of Trans Ionics Corporation, a developer of innovative separation-based technology for the energy industry which he founded after a 23 year career with Exxon Corporation where he worked in Corporate Research as well as Downstream R&D.
A prolific inventor with 56 issued patents, he has been successful at identifying critical needs, creating/reorganizing companies to meet those needs, recruiting key team members, raising capital and planning/executing programs directed toward commercializing advanced technologies in the multi-billion dollar energy industry. In addition to his business start-up and operations experience, he has strong leadership and communications skills, crosscutting experience in multiple energy fields as well as forecasting, capital planning and investor relations experience.
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