Cat-HTR™ Technology

Each day the world consumes over 100 million barrels of fossil oil, yet creating oil takes nature millions of years.

Licella’s patented Cat-HTR™ chemical recycling technology creates oil from waste plastic in just 20 minutes. Reducing plastic waste, not natural resources.

The Cat-HTR™, or Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor, technology chemically transforms End-of-Life Plastic, otherwise destined for landfill, back into oil it came from. This synthetic oil can be used to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals, including the chemicals to make new plastic. A truly circular solution for plastic waste.

Using water at or near supercritical conditions (under high temperature and pressure), the Cat-HTR™ platform chemically transforms a wide variety of low-cost, waste feedstocks and residues into high-value products.

The proprietary Cat-HTR™ technology was developed in Australia by Licella, with ~$90M invested in scaling-up the now commercial-ready technology over the past 13 years. Licella operates a Cat-HTR™ commercial demonstration plant on the NSW Central Coast, an hour north of Sydney. This facility provides technical support for Licella’s global partners, and is the centre of R&D for the Cat-HTR™ technology.

Licella’s Cat-HTR™ solution is a disruptive technology set to revolutionize how we approach a zero waste economy and transition to a lower carbon future. The Cat-HTR™ is also offering a new stream of revenue to industries looking to diversify, creating valuable new products from waste and residues.

Neste announced early January 2019 their collaboration with Licella and ReNewELP in order to utilize waste plastic as a raw material and Cat-HTR™ technology has received extensive global recognition by the scientific and recycling community. This builds upon Licella’s recognition as the global leaders in hydrothermal upgrading.