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Recycle Underutilized Solids to Energy (REUSE)

Description:

Under the REUSE Topic, ARPA-E seeks to fund the development of technologies to convert high-energy materials currently going to landfills into a high-energy content liquid product. The high-energy materials include plastics (#1-7 polymers, rubber, and composites) and paper. ARPA-E anticipates deployment of multiple low-cost, simple, flexible, small-scale (100-500 ton per day) regional facilities using modular plants (“REUSE facilities”). This scale is consistent with the sources for high-energy materials, which include ~300 Material Recovery Facilities and industrial waste sources. ARPA-E-funded processes under this Topic will create a high-energy content liquid that can be easily shipped to and stored at points of aggregation. The liquid product could be used as a fuel blend stock or an intermediate for further conversion to fuels or chemicals. It does not need to be a highly-refined fuel such as gasoline or diesel. The ultimate end products could represent down-cycling or up-cycling the feeds.
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