City Oil Field – sustainable recycling for plastic

zero emissions treatment
of mixed waste plastic

processing at 200 – 295 °C
this is not pyrolysis!

no wet waste or
sludges produced

works with most plastics,
even metallised films

converts mixed plastics into
naphtha and kerosene-like fuel

modular (6 tonnes per unit)
TRL 9 technology

Waste plastic is a monumental problem for the environment
and a missed opportunity for the economy…

The global production of plastics skyrocketed from around 1.5 million tonnes in 1950 to nearly
350 million tonnes in 2017. Cumulatively, global plastic production has surpassed 8 billion
tonnes – and fewer than 10% of these plastics are being recycled.

Plastics are versatile, low-cost and lightweight. They extend the life of perishable goods, enable
low-cost and low-emissions transportation of products, and have contributed to modern
advances in medicine. However, six decades of mass production of plastics have resulted
in billions of tonnes of waste sitting idly in landfills or escaping to the environment.

Landfill plastic is not only damaging to the planet; it is also a missed economic opportunity.
This is because polymers are made from crude oil, and possess materials which can be converted
into building blocks for industry. To that end, the team at City Oil Field, based in South Korea,
developed a proprietary technology for effortlessly processing mixed plastics.

City Oil Field – a paradigm shift

Our team has collaborated with the Korean business since travelling to Seoul, in 2017, with an
Innovate UK delegation (Global Business Innovation Programme). Our work focuses on the
validation and commercialisation of the technology, with a focus on elucidating the degradation
mechanisms of plastics activated by a proprietary ceramic catalyst.

This technology is unlike any other – it uses a solid state catalyst to degrade mixed plastics
without the need to separate, shred or otherwise pre-treat the waste. High-quality outputs
from the process include naphtha and a kerosene-like fuel oil.

City Oil Field – the process

loading mixed plastics;
no pre-treatment needed!

thermal decomposition
at 200 – 295 °C

mixed polymers
converted to light oil

second-stage refining to
make naphtha and fuel oil

The plastics are loaded into a decomposition furnace without sorting, washing, shredding or
processing of any kind. The system can tolerate mixed plastics, including polyethylene,
polypropylene, polystyrenes and foams, metallised films, ceramic films, and more. Food,
waste and metal impurities are tolerated – the process therefore lends to both unsorted
waste plastics and municipal solid waste.

Specially designed and fine-tuned ceramic balls enable catalytic degradation at 200 – 295 °C,
producing a heavy oil. A 2-step refinement process converts the heavy oil into naphtha and a
refined, Kerosene-like fuel oil. Net flow figures of -40 °C were achieved directly from landfill
plastic, while and calorific values are consistently above 10,000 KCal.

One of the advantages of the technique is that operators do not have to deal with any liquid or
sludge waste at the end of the process. All residues are in solid or powdered form – enabling
separation of metals and other valuable materials once the plastic burden has been stripped off.

The machinery is ASME certified and a full-scale operational plant is available to inspect.

In 2022, Ever Resource successfully licensed the technology to Sabien Technology Group PLC (UK).
A special purpose vehicle has been set up to build the infrastructure needed to commercialise
the technology in multiple jurisdictions. For any enquiries please contact us.