Pyrowave

Pyrowave is a company focusing on the field of the chemical industry and also recycling and waste management. This company pioneers in the electrification of chemical processes based on low carbon footprint microwaves, leading to the plastics circular economy and chemical recycling. They regenerate post-consumer and post-industrial plastics into new plastics, reclaiming these resources’ full value.

Polystyrene is mostly known for its use in foam and rigid packaging, containers, cups, and utensils commonly used for food and beverage delivery in supermarkets and take-out food service. In the manufacture of plastics, small molecules called monomers assemble through a polymerization process. Polymerization is the formation of polymers from their respective monomers. It affects numerous aspects of everyday life as it is important in the process by which plastics and fabrics are made.

Pyrowave technology helps deliver the opposite operation and break the bonds between the monomers without damaging them, thus allowing monomers to reassemble again in new chains to form new plastics identical to brand new ones. The easy purification of these monomers due to their liquid state, unlike solid plastics, lead to many benefits. Current technologies can effectively separate impurities from liquids by distillation and find the original quality monomer used by the industry to remanufacture brand new products.

PS (Polystyrene) into neoPS

The regeneration of plastics allows for infinite recycling and avoids the emission of GHGs associated with virgin material extraction. Greenhouse Gases or GHGs are gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. Pyrowave’s patented microwave catalytic depolymerization technology provides an advanced high-power microwave technology worldwide, designed to increase resource efficiency.

600 Series CMD reactor

The 600 Series CMD reactor is specifically designed for polystyrene (PS) raw materials and can process the full range of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS).

Through the use of the 600 CMD reactor, recycled plastics are being made. The continuous process firstly mixes plastics in a preparation tank, which helps remove contaminants such as labels and films, in addition to other impurities. This also helps inject plastics into the reactor more easily. Next, the processed polystyrene is being introduced into the reactor, where it mixes with silicon carbide particles to interact with a high-energy microwave field. Using electrical power and microwaves, the developed process breaks down polymer chains into monomers (depolymerization). Then, the post-consumer polystyrene converts into a liquid rich in blocks – the monomers – which are then being purified and meet the same specifications as the monomers used in the industry. Lastly, these purified and recycled blocks are being reprocessed by a manufacturer and restored into virgin resins to manufacture a variety of products such as polystyrene, synthetic rubber, latex, and plastics for electronic products. Therefore, Pyrowave's new products and packaging are being manufactured from 100% recycled polystyrene.

Pyrowave Co-founder and chief executive officer Jocelyn Doucet, P. Eng., Ph. D., is a chemical engineer and an entrepreneur dedicated to developing and marketing innovations connected with the transition in the use of its non-renewable resources to a circular economy business model. He and his team developed a patented technology—the Catalytic Microwave Depolymerization—for the local processing of mixed plastics, including polystyrene, into a raw material identical to the original feedstock, be reused by the chemical industry in new plastics manufacturing.

As Vice-President, Innovation, Jean-Philippe Laviolette, P. Eng., Ph.D. oversees the development and implementation of Pyrowave technologies. Having many years of experience in the management of state-of-the-art engineering and R & D projects, he joined Jocelyn Doucet in 2012 to work on resource efficiency and develop a technology using microwaves to break down molecules into their original components.

Vice-President, Products Jonathan Bouffard, P. Eng, Ph.D., is responsible for the engineering and preparation of the new Pyrowave technology platforms, with his 15 years of experience in the fine chemicals industry and recovery of industrial waste and rejects into high-value products. Throughout his career, he had the opportunity to lead various projects for the development of innovative equipment in the pharmaceutical, food, and mining industries.

In 2014, the idea of resource efficiency and microwaves breaking down molecules into their original components led Jocelyn Doucet and his team to the creation of Pyrowave. This company developed an advanced high-power microwave technology platform worldwide and now at the forefront of the new revolution intended to increase resource efficiency. Pyrowave works in tandem with the largest stakeholders in the global polymer industry, including Total, INEOS Styrolution, and America Styrenics, and is currently at the marketing stage in North America and Europe.

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is a foundation created by the Government of Canada to support Canadian companies with the potential to become world leaders in the clean technology business.