Envion opens waste plastic to oil facility

Washington-based Envion, Inc. has unveiled technology that converts plastics into synthetic oil.

Envion introduced its first market-ready commercial unit at a demonstration held at the Montgomery County Solid Waste Transfer Station in Derwood, Maryland.

The company calls its Envion Oil Generator the first of its kind and says it is capable of converting 10,000 tons of waste plastic per year into high quality, light to medium synthetic oil for less than $10 per barrel. “About eight percent of world crude oil production is used to manufacture plastic,” Michael Han, CEO, added. “The Envion Oil Generator uses a closed loop, catalyst-free system to take plastic and convert it back into oil safely, efficiently and economically.”

The technology works by melting plastic in an oxygen-starved environment to separate the hydrocarbons for conversion to oil from everything else which is rendered into a nonhazardous ash byproduct. Envion uses a far-infrared ray technology which it claims to yield more fuel than competitors’ processes and handle any type of plastic. One ton can be converted into three to six barrels of fuel, depending on the type of plastic. The 10,000 ton per year version is expected to cost from $6 million to $7 million to build.