Chemical recycling firm Alterra Energy LLC has received additional funding from three materials and recycling firms.
The new funding comes from LyondellBasell, Chevron Phillips Chemical and Infinity Recycling. The amount of the investment wasn't included in an Oct. 22 news release from Akron, Ohio-based Alterra.
Alterra officials said this investment round "will accelerate the commercialization of Alterra's Advanced Recycling technology, designed to transform discarded plastic into valuable raw materials." They added that, with the new funding, the firm "aims to deploy its solutions globally, reinforcing its commitment to sustainable plastics management."
Infinity Recycling led the financing round via its Circular Plastics Fund. Alterra also received additional funding in the round from Finnish renewable feedstock supplier Neste and long-term private investor Potenza Capital.
"This funding marks a pivotal moment in our journey," Alterra CEO Fred Schmuck said. "Together, we can make a meaningful impact on the environment and create a more sustainable future."
Infinity Recycling is a sustainable investor based in the Netherlands. LYB and Chevron Phillips are major Houston-based suppliers of resins and related feedstocks and specialty chemicals.
Alterra has developed a liquefaction technology that, unlike many of its competitors, is a continuous, rather than a batch or semi-batch process. The firm operates an industrial-scale, fully continuous recycling facility in Akron with annual waste processing capacity of 45 million pounds.
The Alterra process converts that waste into of pyrolysis oil that then can be used to make other materials. The plant mainly processes post-consumer mixed plastic otherwise destined for landfills or incineration.
Materials firm Ravago Group, another Alterra investor, supplies the firm with about 80 percent of its feedstock, which is shredded and densified before reaching the Akron plant.
In a late 2022 interview with Plastics News, Alterra President Jeremy DeBenedictis said the firm was looking to license its technology to petrochemical firms that then would build recycling units at their facilities, many of which are on the Gulf Coast.
In early 2023, Alterra announced a deal with Freepoint Eco-Systems Holdings LLC to build a recycling plant for waste plastics on the U.S. Gulf Coast that can process 420 million pounds of material annually.