Proposed HUI waste plastic to hydrogen facility in Ireland and investment in complementary waste plastic to wax business
26 April 2022
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, OR SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE IT IS UNLAWFUL TO DISTRIBUTE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
Hydrogen Utopia International PLC (the 'Company' or ‘HUI’)
Hydrogen Utopia International PLC (AQSE:HUI), a company pioneering non-recyclable waste plastics to hydrogen technology, is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement (the “Agreement”) with Trifol Resources Limited (“TRL”) in the Republic of Ireland which it anticipates will lead to its first operational full scale waste plastic to hydrogen facility in Europe. The Agreement encompasses a suitable sitein an EU Just Transition Fund region, potential access to an investment grade plastic feedstock supplier and the potential to agree offtake for the facility’s anticipated hydrogen and syngas outputs with a substantial customer whose covenant would be regarded as of a very high quality.
As part of the Agreement, HUI will invest €500,000 in TRL, a company in Co. Tipperary, Ireland in the Irish Midlands, with patented waste plastic to wax technologies that process plastic feedstock using an innovative pyrolysis process under low pressure to transform post-consumer plastic into high grade new slack wax and a fuel. The wax can be used in various applications such as rust proofing, moisture proofing, polishes and emulsions and is used around the world. HUI’s hydrogen production process uses pyrolysis of plastics and the parties believe that the investment offers potential synergies and opportunities for both companies.
TRL occupies a site in Co. Tipperary, Ireland comprising approximately 2.64 hectares (c.6.5 acres) which is held on a long lease, with an option for the tenant to acquire the freehold. The site was a former railway locomotive repair shop and therefore has the necessary utilities, including a potential 3MW power supply, to get a facility operating with the minimum of delay. It is also sufficiently large to accommodate both an HUI waste plastic to hydrogen facility and the operation of TRL’s business. TRL’s landlord has formally agreed that it would consent to the grant of a sub-lease of the site to HUI. The site has planning permission for TRL’s plastic to wax pyrolysis business. HUI will apply for any necessary regulatory permissions required for its facility.
HUI and TRL have had extensive discussions regarding the site, the proposed HUI facility and TRL’s business, including discussions with TRL’s landlord. TRL, and its founder, Pat Alley, in particular, has connections in the waste industry in Ireland. As a consequence, HUI has had preliminary meetings with a potential investment grade waste plastic supplier that could provide all of the feedstock necessary to run an HUI facility and a potential substantial customer that could utilise the facility’s anticipated hydrogen and syngas output and whose covenant would be regarded as of a very high quality. HUI anticipates that this could lead to long term supply and offtake agreements at a suitable juncture.
Pursuant to the Agreement, HUI has agreed to subscribe €500,000 for new shares in TRL which will give it a minimum equity stake of 3.33% in TRL on a fully diluted basis and a seat on TRL’s board. HUI and TRL have each committed to use their best endeavours to negotiate and enter into a full development and collaboration agreement (“DCA”) within the next 90 days, subject to TRL having procured all consents necessary for it to enter into the DCA on terms acceptable to HUI. The DCA will provide a detailed framework for developing both the HUI waste plastic to hydrogen facility and TRL’s wax business, the grant of a license, sub-lease of the site or other appropriate use agreement acceptable to HUI, or a special purpose vehicle set up to own the HUI facility, with step-in rights to TRL’s lease and the right to acquire the freehold. The Agreement also provides for HUI to provide TRL with further funding in the form of equity and a secured loan facility.
HUI is in discussions with a third party in relation to a joint venture to build the HUI facility in Ireland. It has also had indications of funding support for the shorter term funds likely to be required to move the project in Ireland forward.
Aleksandra Binkowska, CEO of HUI, commented:
“My biggest ambition was to expand our plastic waste to hydrogen technology to as many European markets as possible, with the additional goal of delivering our first facility in the shortest possible time. Partnership with TrifolResources in Ireland is an ideal stepping stone in turning this ambition and that goal into a reality. Trifol’s motto ‘Giving Old Plastic A New Future’ and its ethos certainly chimes with Hydrogen Utopia’s own aims.”
Pat Alley, Chairman and Founder of Trifol ResourcesLimited, commented:
“HUI’s investment is the initial part of a planned investment programme for the re-commissioning of Trifol’s plant at our newly established facility at Lanespark, Littleton, Co.Tipperary and the establishment of a centre of excellence for the global outreach of our patented technologies”.
For further information please contact:
Hydrogen Utopia International PLC
Aleksandra Binkowska/Guy Peters
+44 20 3811 8770
Alfred Henry Corporate Finance Limited (AQSE Corporate Adviser)
Jon Isaacs
+44 20 3772 0021
Novum Securities Limited (Broker)
Jon Belliss/Colin Rowbury
+44 20 7399 9400
About Hydrogen Utopia International PLC
HUI aims to become one of the leading new European companies specialising in turning non-recyclable mixed waste plastic into carbon-free fuels, new materials or distributed renewable heat.
A HUI facility uses non-recyclable mixed waste plastic as feedstock and turns it into syngas from which new products and energy can be produced. HUI anticipates that its revenues will be derived from a variety of sources, dependent upon location and configuration of the HUI facilities, including the sale of syngas, hydrogen and other gases, electricity and heat sales, and the payment to it of fees for a given quantity of non-recyclable mixed waste plastic received at a HUI facility .
HUI will target areas where there is significant private sector interest or potential, financial backing is accessible and or where substantial EU and/or government funded sources of grants and loans are or may be available. The global increase in fossil fuel-based energy prices reinforces the need for alternative, price competitive energy sources, which HUI's business model can provide.
HUI's initial strategic focus is to work closely with Powerhouse Energy Group plc to create a project pipeline of HUI facilities.
The pressing need to deal with growing amounts of waste plastic combined with a real momentum in the use of hydrogen from renewable sources may pave the way for a rapid deployment of and investment in HUI facilities.