Anellotech

Anellotech, founded in 2008 by David Sudolsky and Professor George Willis Huber, is a sustainable technology company focused on creating cost-competitive renewable chemicals and fuels. The company was established to address the growing consumer and brand-owner demand for more sustainable products by providing technology to make goods from renewable resources. Sudolsky, the President and CEO, has a background in chemical engineering with experience at Union Carbide and Booz, Allen & Hamilton, complemented by an MBA and leadership roles at several startups. Huber is a distinguished professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializing in sustainable technologies for renewable fuels and chemicals.

The company's business model centers on developing and licensing its proprietary process technologies to strategic partners and industrial clients, such as chemical producers and consumer brand owners. Revenue is generated through technology licensing fees, facilitated by partners like Axens for its Bio-TCat process and Technip Energies for its Plas-TCat technology, and through offtake agreements for the chemicals produced. Anellotech forms long-term alliances with industry leaders for process development (IFPEN), catalyst development and manufacturing (Johnson Matthey), and commercialization and technical support (Axens). This collaborative ecosystem includes significant strategic investments from partners like Suntory, Toyota Tsusho, and R Plus Japan.

Anellotech's core technological offering is the Thermal Catalytic (TCat) platform. The initial technology, Bio-TCat™, is a single-step thermal catalytic process that converts non-food biomass, such as loblolly pine, directly into a mixture of benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX). These aromatic chemicals are chemically identical to their petroleum-based counterparts and serve as crucial building blocks for plastics like PET, polyester, nylon, and polystyrene. A key milestone was achieved in December 2021, when partner Suntory produced a 100% plant-based PET bottle using bio-paraxylene from the Bio-TCat process. The process boasts a lower carbon footprint, with a life cycle analysis showing over a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to petroleum-based equivalents.

Building on this foundation, Anellotech is now focused on its Plas-TCat® technology, which adapts the fluid-bed catalytic process to recycle mixed plastic waste. This process converts hard-to-recycle materials, including composite films, into basic chemicals like BTX, olefins, and paraffins, which are then used to produce virgin plastics. This creates a pathway for a circular economy for plastics. The company operates a seven-story pilot plant in Silsbee, Texas, to test and validate its technologies, demonstrating stable operations and generating data for the design of commercial-scale plants.

Keywords: chemical recycling, sustainable technology, non-food biomass, waste plastic recycling, bio-based chemicals, BTX production, aromatics, circular economy, technology licensing, process technology, Bio-TCat, Plas-TCat, paraxylene, renewable fuels, David Sudolsky, George Huber, Suntory partnership, sustainable aviation fuel, PET bottle recycling, green chemicals, thermal catalytic process