Waste and energy development company Brightmark Energy Thursday announced the closing of a $260 million financing package for construction of the nation’s first commercial-scale plastics-to-fuel plant, to be built in Ashley, Indiana.
Financing for the project includes $185 million in Indiana green bonds, which were underwritten by Goldman Sachs, Kallanish Energy reports. As part of the financing, Brightmark has become the controlling owner of RES Polyflow, the Ohio-based energy technology company that developed the process for converting plastics directly into transportation fuel and other products.
The Ashley facility will be the first of its kind to take mixed waste, single-use plastics and convert them into usable products at commercial scale. The facility will initially convert roughly 100,000 tons of plastics into over 18 million gallons a year of ultra-low sulfur diesel and naphtha blend stocks, and nearly six million gallons a year of commercial grade wax in a process that’s expected to be 93% efficient.
Ultimately, the output of this technology could also be used to produce the feedstock necessary for manufacturing plastic again, thus creating the world’s first truly circular economy technology for plastics.
“We are excited about the market’s confidence in the validity of this technology to economically convert single-use plastics for new uses,” said Bob Powell, CEO of Brightmark Energy and RES Polyflow. “This technology provides a strong incentive for diverting single-use plastics away from oceans, waterways, communities and landfills by creating reusable value.”
BP will purchase the fuels produced by the facility, which will be distributed in the regional petroleum market.
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