Novoloop and Aether Attain Continuous Operations of Pilot Plant
Novoloop, a plastic circular economy technology company, recently announced the successful startup of its pilot plant in India in collaboration with Aether Industries, a publicly listed specialty chemicals manufacturer.
Construction was completed in March 2024, after the announcement of the plant in January 2024. The pilot plant has now achieved continuous operations recycling commercially-representative waste feedstock.
This milestone marks the successful transition from batch reactions to an integrated and automated plant that validates Novoloop's first-of-a-kind Lifecycling technology. Novoloop’s process transforms post-consumer polyethylene plastic waste into virgin-quality monomers for performance materials at a carbon footprint reduction of up to 91% when compared to the conventional process of producing adipic acid.
Miranda Wang, Co-founder and CEO of Novoloop, commented, “After years of research, development, and engineering, we have built a radically innovative process and now our pilot plant is successfully demonstrating this paradigm shift in technology. We are tremendously excited about this next chapter, where we make available the first lots of Lifecycled products to the world."
Recognized for its potential to make a global environmental impact, Novoloop’s pilot scaleup has garnered support from Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative. The pilot plant aims to ensure safe and reliable operations, validate key equipment in an industrial setting, and produce high-purity products. It also serves as a training ground for personnel and a platform for establishing commercial operation protocols. The plant is set to generate ton-scale samples to secure early customer commitments.
“Having built the pilot plant in less than six months, from detailed engineering to commissioning, the project demonstrates remarkable efficiency and collaboration between the teams,” said Aman Desai, Director and Senior VP of Research, Manufacturing, and Operations at Aether. “Aether is proud to partner with Novoloop on their groundbreaking and innovative technology towards a plastic circular economy, and looks forward to taking this technology towards commercialization.”
Aether’s proficiency in operations is a significant strength, fostering trust in the possibility of more extensive partnerships between the firms in the future. Novoloop is already in the process of increasing the pilot capacity to a full-scale demonstration plant with an annual output of 70 metric tons.
