Aduro Clean explores turf waste chemical recycling

Executive Summary

• Aduro Clean Technologies successfully completed initial testing of synthetic turf waste as a feedstock for its proprietary Hydrochemolytic technology (HCT), demonstrating the ability to process complex, multi-layered plastic waste without extensive preprocessing.
• The testing confirmed that HCT can selectively convert polyolefin components of synthetic turf into shorter-chain hydrocarbon products suitable for steam cracking and new polymer production, addressing a market segment underserved by conventional mechanical or chemical recycling methods.
• The company is leveraging insights from this trial to inform operating strategies for its next-generation process (NGP) pilot plant, which is currently under construction and designed to handle a broad range of complex feedstocks.

Key Details

• Feedstock Composition: The synthetic turf samples tested reflected typical modern systems, including polyethylene (PE) grass blades, polypropylene (PP) thatch layers, primary and secondary PP backing layers, residual infill materials (silica sand, crumb rubber), and polyurethane adhesives.
• Technical Outcome: The HCT process demonstrated tolerance for mixed materials and contaminants, successfully converting polyolefin components into shorter-chain hydrocarbon products relevant as feedstocks for steam cracking and new polymer production.
• Market Context: In North America, more than 12,000 full-sized synthetic turf fields (weighing 200–300 tons each) are expected to reach end-of-service life within the next five years.
• Market Size: The synthetic turf recycling market is projected to grow from $1.8 billion (U.S.) in 2025 to approximately $5.9 billion (U.S.) by 2032, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 15.8%.
• Future Applications: The company identified carpets as a similarly complex waste stream (with the textile industry generating ~92 million tons of waste annually) that could be a future candidate for HCT, though it is not currently part of the testing activities.
• Pilot Plant Status: The next-generation process (NGP) pilot plant is under construction; insights from the turf testing will help inform future operating strategies and feedstock evaluation protocols at the pilot scale.
• Stakeholder Interest: The company received samples from a global industry stakeholder, and several other parties have expressed interest in the results.

Notable Quotes

• "This trial supports our strategy of targeting market segments that are underserved by conventional recycling, either due to complex material composition or limited processing scale... These are the kinds of waste streams that may be better suited to right-sized, modular chemical recycling systems like HCT." — Ofer Vicus, Chief Executive Officer