INTERVIEW WITH
Jeff Gold of Nexus Circular LLC Jeff Gold is the COO/founder of Nexus, the leading circular waste-plastics solution company based in Atlanta that converts landfill-bound plastics to reusable plastics. nexuscircular.com 1. What does Nexus do exactly? Nexus converts waste plastics that are typically bound for a landfill or incineration into chemical feedstocks that are used to
4. What have been the challenges you have encountered? Converting waste plastic at a commercial scale into useful products and doing so economically is very hard.
create new, virgin plastics. We take the polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene that cannot be economically recycled
The principle technical challenges we have encountered revolve
through mechanical systems and transform them into valuable
primarily around feedstock in terms of collection, contamination, and
liquids and waxes that our partners use to create a huge range of
composition. The challenge has been to create a highly adaptable sys-
new plastic products. Our process is very energy efficient and by
tem that can accept a wide variation of inputs and produce a uniform,
directing our output into new plastics versus fuel products that
consistent, high-quality output.
are burned, we sequester the carbon in those plastics and prevent
the face of a variable feedstock stream has also posed technical chal-
their entry into the environment as harmful greenhouse gases.
lenges around managing heat distribution to yield our desired products
Maintaining reactor performance in
while minimizing energy consumption which is why we have taken all
2. How does the waste plastics conversion work? Nexus uses a process known as pyrolysis, or “thermal depoly-
the learnings from our first plant and are now applying them to a thirdgeneration design.
merization” to transform waste plastic back into its basic molecular forms. This process works by applying heat to the plastic but
Another challenge involves proving that chemical recycling is a
excluding all oxygen so that instead of burning, the plastic simply
viable technology in the fight against plastic pollution. There have been
liquefies and decomposes into a variety of hydrocarbon mol-
numerous press releases and announcements by groups in the chemical
ecules. Most plastics are made of long hydrocarbon chains and
recycling space touting a solution that fails to materialize and when this
pyrolysis provides a way to “cut” those chains into smaller pieces
happens often enough, a perception is created that this is something
that become liquids or waxes once they are cooled. It is these
that does not really work. While there is a lot of progress yet to be
liquids and waxes that can then be used in the industrial systems
made, Nexus has shown that the technology can be effective and that it
that make new plastic resins.
merits serious consideration.
3. Is the conversion process truly a ‘closed loop’?
5. What is the future? How far to do you see an operation like yours going?
We consider our process to be “closed loop” because all the plastic that goes into the system is converted into a new product
We feel very optimistic about the future! We have a team in place
that is captured at various points in the system. For example,
that has built an innovative and economic process that addresses the
most of the incoming plastic is converted to liquids and a wax
pressing environmental issue of plastic pollution and we have proven
product that is collected and shipped off directly to our off-take
that Nexus is one of the few companies that can deliver our product at
partners. The process also produces a flammable gas that we
commercial scale and consistent quality.
likewise capture and then use to heat the pyrolysis reactors. A fourth product that results from the process is a carbon-black
Demand for our products is extremely high as many companies
char material that forms in the reactors from small amounts of
work towards satisfying consumer demands to increase the amount
paper and cardboard that are mixed in with the plastic feedstock
of certified recycled content in their products and take positive steps
and from normal decomposition of plastic when it contacts very
to improve the planet’s environmental quality.
hot surfaces. This char is collected and can be used as an asphalt
to scale the business at a rate that can keep pace with our customer’s
additive. In this way, all the products formed from the plastic
needs, and to that end, we are working very hard to establish new
feedstock are converted, captured, and used in some way making
locations both at home and overseas. Given that the use of plastics is
the process truly closed loop.
expected to continue its upward trend over the next several,Nexus is
Our challenge now is
poised to expand on its industry leadership position and play a major role in combatting plastic pollution for years to come.
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SABMag - WINTER 2022
