Circular Chemicals
The BioBTX Integrated Cascading catalytic Pyrolysis (ICCP) technology is developed with the goal of making full carbon circularity possible. With the patented technology we are making a future proof and renewable alternative for fossil based chemicals possible.
The internally developed technology makes it possible to produce high value drop-in chemicals from a wide range of feedstocks.
The BioBTX technology consists out of two steps. One being the pyrolysis of biomass and plastics, while the other is the catalytic upgrading of hydrocarbon vapours towards valuable aromatics and other products. By separating the two steps, BioBTX is able to optimise the technology and do extensive research to both steps.
Input
From end-of-life plastics to non-food biomass, the ICCP technology makes it possible to upcycle a wide range of waste streams. The separation of the two steps allows us to be flexible. This way we are able to operate on a broad window of inputs and allow for contaminants in de feedstock. This reduces the costs associated with pre-treatment of the feedstock and allows us to utilize more complex and otherwise underutilised feedstock streams.
We have a saying: if it contains hydrogen and carbon, we can process it. This claim has been supported by thousands of lab scale experiments with all types of feedstocks, both plastic and biomass based.
Cracking
In de first step we cut the carbon into pieces. The BioBTX technology uses the concept of pyrolysis. This technology utilizes heat to crack the plastic and biomass molecules, in the absence of oxygen. This results in a vapour, which comprises of a myriad of molecules, all being shorter and smaller than their parent molecules. Due to the dedicated pyrolysis step, most contaminants are separated out of the pyrolysis vapour. Pyrolysis can thus be seen as a cleaning step: all contaminants in the end-of-life plastics and/or biomass are being left in the pyrolysis step and we obtain a clean vapour which can be send towards the catalytic reactor.
Upgrading
The second step glues the carbon atoms back together. This step favours the production of aromatics and will thus thus convert the molecules towards BTX. The robustness of the process allows BioBTX to process end-of-life plastics with various compositions and biomass. Having a selective upgrading step also allows BioBTX to develop other processes in the near future and potentially add other valuable products, besides BTX, to its portfolio. The products are then condensed and isolated in the condensation train. This produces the BTX mixture and other valuable products.
Products: high-value drop-in molecules
The product produced is an aromatic mixture, rich in BTX. The unique properties of the mixture make it possible to use the produced mixture as a direct drop-in product.
This BTX mixture can be separated into the pure benzene, toluene, and xylenes, which are the building blocks of the chemical industry. As the produced molecules are identical to their fossil counterparts, they can be directly used. Therefore, the BioBTX product is classified as a drop-in chemical. This allows existing chemical production facilities to easily switch to renewable alternatives for their fossil based products.