Enterprise Ireland-backed company Cynar of Portlaoise has signed an exclusive agreement with SITA UK, one of the UK’s leading recycling and resource management companies, to build Britain’s first fully operational plants to convert end of life plastic into diesel fuel. The objective is to build ten UK plastic to diesel conversion plants dealing with 60,000 tonnes of mixed plastic waste per year, and commission the first plant in London by end 2011.
Cynar is a firm focused on new conversion technology. The agreement represents a major milestone for Cynar in its expansion in international markets. The Cynar technology can handle a range of waste plastics that are currently sent to landfill or incinerated. The first plant is built and operating in Portlaoise. Cynar’s ambition is to be the industry leader in the profitable conversion of waste plastics to useable liquid fuels.
Each plant is designed to convert approximately 6,000 tonnes of mixed waste plastic annually, specifically targeting mixed waste plastic diverted from landfill, and to produce in excess of 4 million litres of end of life plastic into specification diesel fuel.
SITA UK’s agreement with Cynar will help Britain as it attempts to deal with mixed waste plastic with a solution that is both environmentally efficient and energy productive. Waste plastic recovery process is expected to be produced at below the cost of normal diesel and the fuel itself is expected to have a lower carbon footprint than conventional diesel. The fuel qualities of the recycled diesel will be on a par with conventional diesel, without the need for any further refining and therefore suitable for commercial use.