lol .. amazing isn't it that they'd have to *refoc
Post# of 43064
Posted On: 02/22/2016 10:25:35 AM
lol .. amazing isn't it that they'd have to *refocus*
considering how their prior byproduct was toxic
and presented probs re: disposal .. that said
i look forward to the A company retooling
since competition (real or perceived) is healthy
for P2O .. and whomever else enters (in due course)
as a pubco .. it will be nice to finally have true comps
for all with interest .. to digest
thanks for the link/read
Economy took steam out of gas production, so Agilyx retools
Agilyx Shifts From Petroleum To Styrene
Agilyx chief executive Ross Patten explains the company's shift to converting plastic waste to styrene.
Print Email Allan Brettman | The Oregonian/OregonLive By Allan Brettman | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on February 21, 2016 at 8:00 AM
Four years after Agilyx Corp. was founded with the goal of recycling waste plastic into petroleum, gas at Portland-area pumps was sitting at $4.30 a gallon. That was mid-2008, and the Tigard company had every reason to believe it was onto something big.
But gas prices have plunged in the years since, taking Agilyx's business plan with them.
The low price of petroleum has cut deeply into energy-dependent industries, from oil exploration and drilling to the companies that make large-diameter pipe. Agilyx has not been immune.
As of Sunday, the company will begin the process of shutting down its plastic-to-petroleum process. Before the shutdown, the company produced and sold more than 800,000 gallons of oil.
But by this summer, Agilyx plans to have retooled its machinery to begin creating something else entirely.
"We're not giving up on plastic to oil," said chief executive Ross Patten. "But right now the economic conditions of the oil industry don't allow us to go forward."
While he won't venture a guess as to when petroleum prices will return to a level that will make Agilyx' conversion process profitable, he did say the company is confident enough that gas prices will eventually rise again that it has long-term plans to open a second plant for plastics-to-petroleum conversion in the Philadelphia area.[SN1] However, having just recently obtained regulatory permits for the plant, company officials haven't decided when construction on that plant would begin – citing the precarious state of the oil industry.
What the company isn't doing is closing up shop. Instead, it will retool its machinery to turn plastics into the styrene, which can be sold to companies that produce polystyrene – often used as a packing material.
To do this, the company will be starting with recyclable plastics that contain polystyrene. In the early going, it anticipates collecting a sufficient volume from companies in the area that previously had been disposing the material into landfill, Patten said.
In time, Agilyx expects to collect plastics through trash haulers. But the company is interested in getting the type of plastics that typically go in the trash can now, instead of recycling bins: Styrofoam packaging, packaging trays for meat products and some other food packaging, for example.
The Tigard plant has 25 workers, down from at least double that toward the end of 2011. At that time the company envisioned more rapid expansion, including the addition of three more conversion plants – not just the one slated for the Philadelphia area.
Patten, a one-time executive with Browning Ferris Industries in Texas, arrived the following year. He replaced former chief executive Chris Ulum.
The privately held Agilyx last reported a round of venture capital toward the end of 2011 -- $25 million from a group of current investors and a new one, Keating Capital Inc., a Colorado company that takes stakes in businesses expected to go public.
Patten, who recently led a tour of the Agilyx' plant for government leaders, said Agilyx for now has shelved any thought of going public.
But that does remain a longer-term goal. "That is something the board has discussed in the past," he said. "The board is working toward that."
However, he said the company has raised additional money since 2011 through individual investors, including Sir Richard Branson, the celebrity owner of Virgin Airways. Patten said Branson is an environmentalist who became interested in Agilyx through the advice of someone in the airline industry because of the prospect of transforming trash into jet fuel.
Patten said Agilyx has lined up customers to purchase the styrene the company will be producing this year, though he declined to name any, saying contracts had not been finalized.
"We know our technology has other applications and that's why we're converting to styrene," Patten said, "Because that's a product we can convert into a product that can be more profitable."
-- Allan Brettman
4kids
considering how their prior byproduct was toxic
and presented probs re: disposal .. that said
i look forward to the A company retooling
since competition (real or perceived) is healthy
for P2O .. and whomever else enters (in due course)
as a pubco .. it will be nice to finally have true comps
for all with interest .. to digest
thanks for the link/read
Economy took steam out of gas production, so Agilyx retools
Agilyx Shifts From Petroleum To Styrene
Agilyx chief executive Ross Patten explains the company's shift to converting plastic waste to styrene.
Print Email Allan Brettman | The Oregonian/OregonLive By Allan Brettman | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on February 21, 2016 at 8:00 AM
Four years after Agilyx Corp. was founded with the goal of recycling waste plastic into petroleum, gas at Portland-area pumps was sitting at $4.30 a gallon. That was mid-2008, and the Tigard company had every reason to believe it was onto something big.
But gas prices have plunged in the years since, taking Agilyx's business plan with them.
The low price of petroleum has cut deeply into energy-dependent industries, from oil exploration and drilling to the companies that make large-diameter pipe. Agilyx has not been immune.
As of Sunday, the company will begin the process of shutting down its plastic-to-petroleum process. Before the shutdown, the company produced and sold more than 800,000 gallons of oil.
But by this summer, Agilyx plans to have retooled its machinery to begin creating something else entirely.
"We're not giving up on plastic to oil," said chief executive Ross Patten. "But right now the economic conditions of the oil industry don't allow us to go forward."
While he won't venture a guess as to when petroleum prices will return to a level that will make Agilyx' conversion process profitable, he did say the company is confident enough that gas prices will eventually rise again that it has long-term plans to open a second plant for plastics-to-petroleum conversion in the Philadelphia area.[SN1] However, having just recently obtained regulatory permits for the plant, company officials haven't decided when construction on that plant would begin – citing the precarious state of the oil industry.
What the company isn't doing is closing up shop. Instead, it will retool its machinery to turn plastics into the styrene, which can be sold to companies that produce polystyrene – often used as a packing material.
To do this, the company will be starting with recyclable plastics that contain polystyrene. In the early going, it anticipates collecting a sufficient volume from companies in the area that previously had been disposing the material into landfill, Patten said.
In time, Agilyx expects to collect plastics through trash haulers. But the company is interested in getting the type of plastics that typically go in the trash can now, instead of recycling bins: Styrofoam packaging, packaging trays for meat products and some other food packaging, for example.
The Tigard plant has 25 workers, down from at least double that toward the end of 2011. At that time the company envisioned more rapid expansion, including the addition of three more conversion plants – not just the one slated for the Philadelphia area.
Patten, a one-time executive with Browning Ferris Industries in Texas, arrived the following year. He replaced former chief executive Chris Ulum.
The privately held Agilyx last reported a round of venture capital toward the end of 2011 -- $25 million from a group of current investors and a new one, Keating Capital Inc., a Colorado company that takes stakes in businesses expected to go public.
Patten, who recently led a tour of the Agilyx' plant for government leaders, said Agilyx for now has shelved any thought of going public.
But that does remain a longer-term goal. "That is something the board has discussed in the past," he said. "The board is working toward that."
However, he said the company has raised additional money since 2011 through individual investors, including Sir Richard Branson, the celebrity owner of Virgin Airways. Patten said Branson is an environmentalist who became interested in Agilyx through the advice of someone in the airline industry because of the prospect of transforming trash into jet fuel.
Patten said Agilyx has lined up customers to purchase the styrene the company will be producing this year, though he declined to name any, saying contracts had not been finalized.
"We know our technology has other applications and that's why we're converting to styrene," Patten said, "Because that's a product we can convert into a product that can be more profitable."
-- Allan Brettman
4kids
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