Plastics Recycler Plans Facility to Make Coke Alternative
09/05/2024 - The U.S. Energy Department has conditionally agreed to guarantee a loan of up to US$182.6 million to Pennsylvania-based International Recycling Group (IRG), which is looking to build facilities that would produce a plastics-based coking coal alternative.
According to the Energy Department, IRG intends to build a plastics recycling facility in Erie, Pa., and an injection system tower at a steel manufacturing facility in northwest Indiana.
The new recycling facility will mechanically recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and polypropylene (PP) polymers, annually converting approximately 160,000 tons of waste plastic into approximately 100,000 tons of recycled plastic materials.
The facility will also produce about 20,000 tons per year of a coking coal alternative it calls CleanRed.
“IRG Erie will be the first company in the United States to produce and sell a plastic-waste-based iron reducing agent to a domestic steel manufacturer, helping to solidify America’s position as the global leader in low-carbon iron and steel products,” the company said.
