Sustainable transformation so plastic moves forward in circles

Licella’s Cat-HTR^TMtechnology is a form of advanced recycling – enabling a continuously circular economy for plastic that currently goes to landfill. Also known as chemical recycling, it transforms difficult to recycle plastic back into its chemical building blocks (a recycled oil). Used in place of fossil oil to produce new food-grade plastics, our technology enables a circular economy for soft plastic packaging.

Our solution

What is advanced recycling?

For plastic to be mechanically recycled it usually needs to be sorted by type, with contamination removed. This is challenging for soft plastic and nearly impossible for multilayer plastic packaging.

Advanced recycling, also known as chemical recycling, is a process that breaks down plastic waste back into its basic chemicals, which can then be reused to make new plastics with recycled content.

It complements mechanical recycling by processing mixed, multi-layer and contaminated plastics that are difficult to recycle and often end up in landfill.

Our technology

What is hydrothermal liquefaction?

Licella’s Cat-HTR^TM platform is an advanced form of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). HTL uses water under high pressure and temperature to sustainably transform waste plastics back into the chemical building blocks they were made from.

Effectively, the compressed steam (known as supercritical water) breaks down the long chemical chains in the plastic to more simple chemicals, forming a recycled oil similar to refined fossil oil.

Feedstocks

Which plastics can advanced recycling process?

Advanced recycling can process a range of plastic but targets those that are difficult to mechanically recycle, such as mixed soft plastic.

The proposed facility will target waste streams of the following plastics:

High density polyethylene (HDPE)
Low density polyethylene (LDPE)
Polypropylene (PP)

Cat-HTR Technology

Next-generation advanced recycling

Licella is a pioneer in advanced recycling of plastic – enabling the transformation of difficult to recycle plastic into a true circular resource. Unique among plastic to oil technologies, the Cat-HTR™ platform uses an advanced form of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) to process mixed waste plastic (including flexible packaging) that is difficult to recycle mechanically. Diverting plastic from landfill and reducing the demand for virgin plastic.

Technology

Ensuring plastic moves forward in circles

In 2021, Licella partnered with Nestlé, Amcor, Viva Energy, and others to create a KitKat wrapper made with 30% post-consumer recycled content – an Australian first. Licella’s Cat-HTR™ Commercial Demonstration Facility converted end-of-life plastic into plasti-oil, which was then processed at Viva’s Geelong refinery using the ISCC Plus mass balance approach. This groundbreaking Australian pilot marked a significant step toward establishing a local circular economy for packaging and laid the foundation for Licella’s Australian Project.

Since 2014, Licella has led R&D for plastic advanced recycling with the Cat-HTR™ technology, and in 2016 established Mura Technology as a joint-venture. Mura’s Hydro-PRT process, which is based on the Cat-HTR™ technology, is at the core of three completed commercial advanced recycling facilities globally, helping pioneer a more sustainable future for plastic.

Advanced Recycling Australia

Next-generation advanced recycling

Licella is completing detailed feasibility studies towards establishing a Cat-HTR^TM advanced recycling facility in Victoria. The proposed facility would process mixed End-of-Life Plastic into oil to make new food-grade post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic – enabling a circular economy for packaging. The proposed facility will initially process 20,000 tonnes per annum of waste plastics, with a plan to expand its capacity over time.