PureCycle Technologies said that its flagship purification facility in Ironton, Ohio is demonstrating improved reliability and product quality since resuming operations.

The Ironton Facility initially resumed operations the week of May 20. On May 22, severe storms across the Midwest, caused an area-wide power outage that impacted the Ironton Facility. Prior to the power outage, the Company began with feed rates of 2,500 pounds per hour and reached rates of 5,500 pounds per hour right before the storm.

Operations again resumed on May 30 after needed equipment repairs were completed. The Company restarted with feed rates at 2,500 pounds per hour and has subsequently reached rates of up to 6,000 pounds per hour. The Ironton Facility has produced approximately 265,000 pounds of pellets since operations resumed on May 30.

During the restarts there have been operational interruptions to address minor maintenance items, calibration of digital upgrades, and utility rebalancing for continuous operations.

PureCycle CEO Dustin Olson said, “We spent April and early-May making more than 100 improvements to the facility and despite the unforeseen circumstances with the power outage, it’s been great to see the positive early results. I’d like to thank every member of our team and all the contractors that worked tirelessly to complete the planned outage.” Olson added, “There is still more work to do, but we have made significant progress and I’m both confident and excited about the future of our flagship facility.”

The improvements to the Ironton Facility were made to enhance reliability and drive more consistent product quality. The near-term operational focus is to maximize facility uptime, but the PureCycle team will continue to increase rates in the future.

The Company restarted the Ironton Facility with a feedstock low in co-product two (i.e. lower concentrations of polyethylene and ash). Feedstocks with higher percentages of co-product two will be introduced in the near future to determine the impact of the upgrades to the co-product two system.