Plas2Fuel is planning to build a small plant in Tigard this year to showcase its technology that converts scrap plastic back into crude oil.

The company has applied for an environmental permit, and CEO Chris Ulum says it has funding to build the plant by year end or sooner.

The plant will be able to produce just over a half-million gallons of crude annually, first converting the plastic to gas in four natural gas-fired ‘reclamation chambers,’ then condensing the gases into a final product that Ulum says is a high quality crude. A refinery has already agreed to take the oil, he said.

The plant will serve as a ‘showcase’ for potential customers, Ulum said, illustrating how the technology can promote re-use of plastic that typically heads to the landfill.

Plas2Fuel will seek waste plastic from industry, agriculture and other sources - not plastic bottles and other commonly recycled plastics, Ulum said. It conducted a pilot project with Agri-Plas, an agricultural plastics recycler in Brooks.

‘Our real niche is in extending the reach of recycling, not competing with it,’ he said. ‘We're always running the heterogeneous or 'dirty' plastic that can't be recycled at all, or certainly not economically.’

The agency says the plant, at 7904 S.W. Hunziker St, will emit low levels of pollutants. The reclamation chambers are sealed and oxygen free,  which should eliminate the potential for combustion.

By Scott Learn, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.