Mura begins construction works on its first commercial-scale advanced recycling plant in Teesside
Type of post: NEWS.
Mura has announced that construction has started on the world’s first commercial-scale plant to use its HydroPRS process in Teesside (UK). HydroPRS (Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling Solution) is an advanced technology for plastic recycling.
Press release: “Mura Announce Teesside Project Commences Build & New Partnerships”, 25/03/2021.
Figure 1. Simplified diagram of the Mura process
The Teesside plant is expected to be operational in 2022. It will be able to process 80,000 tons of plastic waste per year. On completion, it will have the capacity to avoid up to 120,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year, compared to incineration of the same plastic waste. The project will form the blueprint for a rapid global rollout that will see one million tons of capacity in development worldwide by 2025. Sites are planned in Germany, the US and Asia.
Mura’s proprietary HydroPRS process, utilising Cat-HTR technology (developed and owned by Licella Holdings Limited), uses supercritical steam to valorize plastics wastes. The steam acts like molecular scissors, cutting longer-chain hydrocarbon bonds in plastics to produce chemicals and oils from which the plastic was originally made, in as little as 25 minutes. It can recycle all forms of plastic with no limit to the number of times.
To support its rapid global deployment, Mura has announced a series of strategic partnerships. In January, the company signed an agreement with KBR Inc. to license the technology to its clients worldwide. KBR has also invested in the company. Igus GmbH. has partnered with Mura via a strategic investment to support the world-first plant in Teesside. Wood has been appointed as the EPC contractor for the Teesside project, which is being developed by ReNew ELP (UK subsidiary of Mura Technology).
