Producing Oil at $45 a Barrel from Mixed Waste Plastics

Oregon company Agilyx has raised $22 million in new operating cash from high profile investors including Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, venture capital firm Chrystalix, and corporate investors Waste Management and Total Energy Ventures International. Agilyx has developed a system of rapid pyrolytic treatment of mixed and contaminated plastics into pure petroleum oil -- which it says it can produce at about $45 a barrel.

The company has developed a multi-step process which it says can convert about ten pounds of mixed plastics into one gallon of crude oil.

To make oil, it heats plastics to the point where they turn into a gas. There is then a condensing stage, which converts the gas back into a liquid and removes impurities.

Agilyx is now operating a demonstration plant, which is selling oil to a refiner, and intends to sell its equipment to plastic handlers and recyclers which deal with large volumes. The synthetic crude oil can be refined on site or shipped to standard refiners and the net carbon footprint from its technology is favorable, according to the company.

...The technology can produce oil at about $45 a barrel, Brian Wawro from Chrysalix told the Portland Business Journal. _CNET

The cost of the final product will depend in part upon how much the feedstock wastes cost the producer. The cheaper the garbage, the cheaper the end fuels and energy.

Agilyx is one of dozens of companies hoping to cash in on the waste-to-energy trend. Anyone who has seen video of the great garbage avalanche of 2505, will understand the importance of a tidy and resourceful re-cycling of civilisation's garbage. If you can profit from maintaining a cleaner landscape at the same time, who will complain except the dieoff.orgy greens?