Aduro Clean Tech Hits Milestone With Successful Steam-Cracking Pilot – Benzinga

Report on Aduro Clean Technologies’ Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals through Advanced Plastic Recycling

Introduction: Aligning Innovation with Global Sustainability

Aduro Clean Technologies Inc. has achieved a significant milestone in sustainable industrial processing. A successful pilot-scale trial of its Hydrochemolytic Technology by a major global petrochemical firm validates a novel approach to plastic recycling. This report outlines the technology’s process, trial results, and its profound alignment with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those focused on responsible production, climate action, and innovation.

Technological Advancement and SDG Alignment

Traditional chemical recycling methods for plastics are often inefficient, requiring extensive sorting and costly upgrading processes. These limitations create a substantial environmental burden and hinder the transition to a circular economy. Aduro’s Hydrochemolytic Technology directly addresses these challenges, contributing to a more sustainable future.

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

The technology is a cornerstone for achieving circularity in the plastics value chain.

• It transforms mixed plastic waste, which is typically difficult to recycle, into a high-quality feedstock for new plastics.
• By upcycling waste materials, it reduces the demand for virgin fossil fuels in plastic production.
• The process minimizes waste generation and promotes a production model where resources are kept in use for as long as possible.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

Aduro’s work exemplifies the innovation required to build resilient and sustainable industrial infrastructure.

• The Hydrochemolytic Technology represents a breakthrough in chemical engineering, offering a cleaner, more efficient alternative to incumbent processes.
• The planned acquisition of a demonstration plant site in the Netherlands for 2 million euros signifies a commitment to building the physical infrastructure necessary to scale this sustainable solution globally.

SDG 13: Climate Action

The technology offers a direct pathway to reducing the carbon footprint of the plastics industry.

• It produces a cleaner, more saturated hydrocarbon liquid that requires no energy-intensive post-processing before use in steam crackers.
• By enabling a circular economy, it helps mitigate greenhouse gas emissions associated with both virgin plastic manufacturing and the incineration or landfilling of plastic waste.

SDG 14 & 15: Life Below Water and Life on Land

By creating economic value from mixed plastic waste, the technology provides a powerful incentive to divert plastics from natural ecosystems.

• It offers a scalable solution to tackle the global plastic pollution crisis, which severely impacts marine and terrestrial life.
• Improved recycling capabilities reduce the likelihood of plastics ending up in oceans, rivers, and landfills.

Pilot Trial Validation: A Milestone for Circularity

The successful trials, conducted in October 2025 at a European pilot facility, provide critical third-party validation of the technology’s efficacy and commercial potential.

Trial Overview

1. Feedstock: The trial utilized a hydrocarbon liquid derived from a complex mixture of post-consumer plastics, including polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, PET, and polyamide.
2. Process: The Aduro-produced liquid was fed directly into a pilot steam-cracking furnace without requiring any dilution or additional pre-treatment, a key differentiator from other recycled oils.
3. Evaluation: The material was tested under multiple operating conditions to confirm its suitability and performance.

Key Outcomes

• The trial confirmed that the Hydrochemolytic oil meets the stringent feedstock standards for large-scale petrochemical steam crackers.
• This result validates the technology’s capacity to create a high-value product from low-value waste, a critical step for building a viable circular plastics economy.

Strategic Outlook and Future Impact

Following this successful validation, Aduro Clean Technologies is poised to expand its impact on global sustainability efforts.

Next Steps

• The company intends to collaborate with additional global partners to further assess feedstock quality, scalability, and pathways for integrating the Hydrochemolytic Technology into existing industrial facilities.
• These partnerships will be crucial for accelerating the adoption of this technology and advancing progress toward SDG 9 and SDG 12.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

  The article focuses on Aduro’s innovative “Hydrochemolytic Technology,” a new industrial process for recycling plastics. This directly relates to fostering innovation and upgrading industrial processes to be more sustainable and environmentally sound.

• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

  The core issue addressed is the management of plastic waste. The technology promotes a “circular plastics value chain” by recycling mixed waste plastics, which is a key component of sustainable consumption and production patterns, aiming to reduce waste and manage resources efficiently.

• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

  The technology processes “mixed waste plastics,” which are a significant part of municipal solid waste. By providing an effective recycling solution, it contributes to better waste management in urban environments, reducing the environmental burden of cities.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

1. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

   • Target 9.4: By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes.
     
     Explanation: The article describes Aduro’s Hydrochemolytic Technology as a cleaner method that produces oil “far better suited for steam-cracker use without expensive post-processing.” This represents the adoption of a clean and environmentally sound technology to make the petrochemical industry more sustainable.

2. SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

   • Target 12.4: By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle… and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil.
     
     Explanation: The technology provides a method for the environmentally sound management of plastic waste. Unlike traditional methods that create impurities and add “environmental burden,” Aduro’s process produces a cleaner output, minimizing the negative impact of waste.
   • Target 12.5: By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.
     
     Explanation: The technology is a direct application of recycling. It takes “mixed waste plastics, including polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, PET, and polyamide” and converts them back into a valuable feedstock, thus contributing to the reduction of waste that would otherwise be landfilled or incinerated.

3. SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

   • Target 11.6: By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management.
     
     Explanation: By creating a viable process for recycling mixed plastics, a major component of municipal waste, the technology helps improve waste management systems and reduce the overall environmental footprint of urban areas.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

1. Indicators for SDG 9 (Target 9.4)

   • Successful third-party validation: The article explicitly states that the oil’s ability to meet strict standards “represents a key third-party validation of Hydrochemolytic Technology.” This serves as a qualitative indicator of the technology’s viability and adoption by the industry.
   • Scalability and integration pathways: The company’s plan to “assess feedstock quality, scalability, and potential integration pathways” with global partners is an indicator of progress towards widespread industrial adoption.

2. Indicators for SDG 12 (Targets 12.4 & 12.5)

   • Purity of recycled material: The fact that the “Hydrochemolytic oil was fed directly into the pilot furnace without dilution or additional pre-treatment” is a key performance indicator of its purity and the effectiveness of the waste management process.
   • Reduction in plastic rejection: The article notes that traditional methods lead to “increased plastic rejection.” An implied indicator of Aduro’s success is a lower rejection rate for mixed plastics, allowing a wider range of waste to be recycled.
   • Volume of waste processed: The processing of “mixed waste plastics, including polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, PET, and polyamide” implies that the amount and variety of plastic waste diverted from landfills can be measured as an indicator of waste reduction.

3. Indicators for SDG 11 (Target 11.6)

   • Diversion of municipal waste: The technology’s ability to handle mixed waste plastics implies that a key indicator would be the tonnage of municipal plastic waste diverted from traditional disposal methods (like landfills) into this circular recycling stream.

4. SDGs, Targets and Indicators Summary

Source: benzinga.com