The Competitive Edge: Sweet Gazoil Inc.

Q: What was the reason for founding your organization – what was the open niche you saw that could be addressed with a new product or service? What was the problem, or gap, or opportunity?

Sweet Gazoil (SGO) was founded with the goal of protecting the environment by providing cost-effective technologies to treat mixed waste plastics, heavy and used/waste oils, and other waste hydrocarbons.

SGO has developed and patented an anti-fouling ultrafast pyrolysis technology (Surface Flash Cracking (SFC)) which is 10 times more efficient than traditional pyrolysis. Heavy and used/waste oils can be profitably transformed into saleable oil products, while mixed waste plastics can be processed into high quality ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) with 4 times less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than ULSD originating from crude.

SGO has built and helped operate a demonstration unit to treat used oils that no other process could treat and is licensing the technology for oils. The SFC technology is now being globally marketed for the treatment of mixed waste plastics within small-scale cost-effective units (micro-refineries) at a reasonable cost and with negative GHG emissions.

Q: Tell us about your organization. What do you do?

SGO provides industry leaders with innovative solutions for the processing of mixed waste plastics and heavy and used/waste oils. Adapted for the treatment of highly fouling feedstocks which are difficult to cost-effectively process using traditional pyrolysis systems, SGO’s technologies are protected by 14 patents and over 25 patent applications.

SGO’s engineers specialise in various aspects of plastic and oil pyrolysis systems, such as Surface Flash Cracking, cracked fuel stabilisation and the design and operation of small scale distillation columns.

SGO offers engineering consulting for the treatment of plastics and heavy and used/waste oils into high quality fuels and saleable oil products. Other services include feasibility studies and strategic reviews for the treatment of heavy and used/waste oil, as well as plastic pyrolysis operations.

Q: What stage of development are you? Choose one:

Demonstration stage – proven at small, integrated scale, but not yet commercially available

Q: What do your technologies, products or services do and accomplish – how does it (they) work, who is it (they) aimed for?

SFC is ultrafast pyrolysis capable of turning mixed plastics into valuable products. Contrary to traditional slow pyrolysis and gasification, SFC is an order of magnitude more efficient and produces ULSD with high profitability and low environmental cost. To produce the same ULSD fuel, SFC emits 4 times less GHGs than out-of-the-ground crude and refineries.

The SFC process starts with shredding and removing contaminants from the plastics. Then, the plastics are liquified and fed into our patented anti-fouling SFC reactor which treats plastics by projecting small droplets onto very hot surfaces that are self-cleaning. They react almost instantly and produce vapors which are quickly swept out of the reactor. Each drop absorbs only the amount of energy needed to crack, preventing over-cracking and producing right-sized hydrocarbons. After entrained solids are eliminated with cyclones and/or refluxing condensers, the vapors are sorted in a distillation column into pure marketable fuels.

Q: Competitively, what gives your technology, product or service set an edge in cost or performance, sustainability, or any other aspect, that makes it stand out from the crowd, In short, what makes it transformative?

Traditional plastic pyrolysis is prone to fouling and is typically done in batch and/or provides low quality fuels. Fouling lowers heat transfer and prevents the control of reaction temperatures, and the product vapors travel through a liquid phase before exiting the reactor, causing them to be saturated and making the removal of solid contaminants difficult. The process also uses a series of condensers instead of a distillation column.

SFC is ultrafast pyrolysis which operates on a continuous basis and utilises anti-fouling technology to optimize product quality and profitability. The feedstock is processed in the form of droplets which react almost instantly. The vapors produced do not travel through a liquid phase, making the removal of solid contaminants highly effective. Each drop absorbs only the amount of energy needed to crack, preventing over-cracking and producing right-sized hydrocarbons. Finally, the vapors are sorted in a distillation column into pure marketable fuels.

Q: What are the 3 top milestones you have accomplished in the past 3 years?

1. Designing several novel reactors capable of performing a Surface Flash Cracking.
2. Patenting said reactors, as well as patenting modifications to the used oil rotating kiln reactor for the treatment of plastics and other waste hydrocarbons.
3. The design and installation of a commercial scale anti-fouling rotating kiln reactor for the treatment of used oils that no other process could profitably treat.

Q: What are the 3 top milestones you will accomplish in the next 3 years?

1. Design and operation of a plastic pyrolysis demonstration unit.
2. Licensing of oil treatment technology.
3. Building a small-scale plant (micro-refinery) for the treatment of mixed waste plastics.

Q: Where can I learn more about Sweet Gazoil, Inc.?

Click here to visit Sweet Gazoil’s website.