Honeywell, Avangard Innovative to build advanced recycling plant in Texas

29 / 01 / 2022

By Marwa Nassar - -

Honeywell has announced plans to form a joint venture with Avangard Innovative to build an advanced recycling plant in Texas. The facility will use Honeywell’s recently announced UpCycle Process Technology to transform end-of-life plastic waste into recycled polymer feedstock that can be used to create new plastics.

Honeywell’s new UpCycle Process Technology reduces the need for fossil feeds in the creation of virgin plastics, with the goal of enabling a circular economy for plastics.

Avangard Innovative is the largest plastics recycler in the Americas and will be the first to deploy the UpCycle Process Technology in the United States. Honeywell and Avangard intend to form a joint venture to co-own and operate a facility within Avangard’s NaturaPCR complex in Waller, Texas. The planned advanced recycling plant is expected to have the capacity to transform 30,000 metric tons of mixed waste plastics into Honeywell Recycled Polymer Feedstock per year. Production is anticipated to begin in 2023.

“Partnering with companies that have recycling and waste management experience allows Honeywell to help close the loop within the plastics supply chain by bringing the recycling technology onsite to the collection source,” said Vimal Kapur, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies. “The UpCycle Process Technology expands the types of plastics that can be recycled to include waste plastic that would otherwise go unrecycled, enabling Honeywell to play a key role in driving a circular plastics economy.”

When used in conjunction with other chemical and mechanical recycling processes, along with improvements to collection and sorting, Honeywell’s UpCycle Process Technology has the potential to increase the amount of plastic waste that can be recycled to 90% from only 15% today¹.

“Working with Honeywell on a joint advanced recycling plant allows Avangard Innovative to reinforce its mission to preserve and protect the environment by targeting zero waste to landfill,” said Rick Perez, CEO, Avangard Innovative. “The Honeywell solution employs a modular approach to plant design, enabling a straightforward deployment and installation, while striking the right balance between economy of scale and amount of waste plastic generated locally.”

The announcement expands the UpCycle Process Technology footprint, building on Honeywell’s recent announcement in Spain of its intent to form a joint venture with Sacyr. That joint venture would build an advanced recycling plant in Andalucía, in Southern Spain. That facility is expected to have the capacity to transform 30,000 metric tons per year of mixed waste plastics into Honeywell Recycled Polymer Feedstock.

Honeywell’s UpCycle Process Technology was created within Honeywell’s Sustainable Technology Solutions (STS) business, which is part of Honeywell UOP. This latest breakthrough technology builds upon Honeywell’s focus to deliver high impact, environmentally sustainable solutions for customers and society.

Honeywell has a long legacy of sustainability-related innovation, including Solstice^®, a new generation of low-global-warming-potential hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) refrigerants, aerosols, solvents and blowing agents that can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions impact of current offerings on the market by more than 99%. The company also pioneered Ecofining™, a process that converts non-edible natural oils, animal fats and other waste feedstocks to Honeywell Green Diesel™ and Honeywell Green Jet Fuel™.

Honeywell recently committed to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations and facilities by 2035. This commitment builds on the company’s track record of sharply reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of its operations and facilities as well as its decades-long history of innovation to help its customers meet their environmental and social goals. About half of Honeywell’s new product introduction research and development investment is directed toward products that improve environmental and social outcomes for customers.