Chagrin Falls, Ohio-based manufacturer RES Polyflow has announced it has developed a rapid assessment solution designed to prequalify raw materials for the company’s proprietary plastic to fuel energy recovery technology.

The Remote Universal Feedstock Utilization System, or RUFUS, is a mobile diagnostic tool that uses pyrolysis to convert nonrecycled plastic to a liquid hydrocarbon for on-the-spot analysis that determines the quality of the raw material for conversion to petroleum products. Using RUFUS, nonrecycled plastic is now able to be evaluated against graded raw material specifications that support the financial and operational performance goals of a RES Polyflow plastics-to-fuel facility using this assessment tool. Development of the RUFUS system was funded in part by a market development grant awarded to the company by the Ohio EPA in 2015.

When operated, RUFUS determines the percentage of hydrocarbon value that is recoverable from nonrecycled plastic and then analyzes the liquid to determine if the raw material offered by a supply source is technically and financially viable for conversion at commercial scale rather than discarding as a waste material.

The system can be utilized at the company’s northeast Ohio-based technical center and in the marketplace at the source of the supply. In addition to evaluating supply sources throughout Ohio and the Midwest, the company is building a collaboration with Trine University in Angola, Indiana, and the Northeast Indiana Solid Waste Management District to identify and prequalify localized raw material streams generated across a four-county area.

RES Polyflow says it is in the midst of a capital raise that, when completed, will fully fund the construction and start-up of the first commercial plastics to fuel facility in the United States, located in Ashley, Indiana.