Aduro graduates from Shell GameChanger program

Chemical recycler Aduro Clean Technologies Inc., London, Ontario, has successfully graduated from the Shell GameChanger program.

The company says the milestone marks the culmination of a multiyear collaboration under Shell’s chemical decarbonization innovation call, an initiative launched to identify and advance emerging technologies with the potential to reduce carbon intensity in the chemical sector and enable circular feedstock pathways.

RELATED: Aduro makes plastic recycling progress

Aduro was accepted into the program in 2022 following a competitive review that identified its Hydrochemolytic Technology (HCT) as a potentially promising approach to producing high-quality hydrocarbons from mixed plastic scrap, offering a potential route to decarbonize chemical manufacturing.

Following the program, Aduro conducted a series of technical evaluations to assess the performance of its patented chemistry, including selectively toward steam-crackable hydrocarbons in a certain temperature range, suppression of olefin formation and tolerance to common contaminants such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyamides and polyvinyl chloride. Under the tested conditions, the company says the process yielded more than 80 percent liquid hydrocarbons with lower gas and char formation, suggesting potential advantages in feedstock flexibility, product selectivity and process efficiency.

Additionally, Aduro says it advanced its understanding of reaction kinetics and process design parameters, which now inform the further development of its proprietary system architecture.

The program also provided external validation of Aduro's process-design model, establishing confidence in its engineering scale-up pathway from continuous flow reactor to its Next Generation Process (NGP) pilot plant and future demonstration plant stages. The company says insights it gained through the program supported ongoing efforts to optimize process performance and informed the company’s ongoing pilot plant commissioning and the engineering design of its demonstration-scale facility, targeted for approximately 8,000 tons per year of input capacity.

“Graduation from the Shell GameChanger program marks an important milestone in the development of our Hydrochemolytic Technology, taking it from early validation of the chemistry to demonstrating the process under continuous operation and preparing for scale-up,” Aduro CEO Ofer Vicus says.

“I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Ed Holgate, principal, Shell GameChanger/Innovation Partnership manager and Guus van Rossum, team leader, Sustainable Opportunities and Process Technology, for their guidance and support, and to the broader Shell GameChanger team for their professionalism and commitment to advancing innovation in chemical decarbonization. Their engagement has been instrumental in helping us reach this milestone and in reinforcing Aduro’s role as a developer of chemical technologies that enable practical solutions for the energy transition.”

While the formal engagement with has concluded, Aduro says it plans to remain in contact with Shell, providing updates on the operations of its newly commissioned pilot plant and on the progress toward its demonstration-scale facility.