Hydrogen Utopia International has reached a deal with Ireland’s Trifol Resources Limited (TRL), and the company expects to open Europe’s first full-scale waste plastic to hydrogen facility there soon.
The company has agreed to work with an EU Just Transition Fund region to find a suitable location for the facility, as well as access to a high-quality plastic feedstock supplier and a major customer whose covenant we regard as being of the highest quality.
As part of the agreement, HUI will invest €500,000 in TRL, a company 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 is used all over the world for a variety of purposes, including rust and moisture proofing, polishing, and emulsions. Pyrolysis of plastics is used to produce hydrogen at HUI, and both parties believe that the investment offers synergies and opportunities for both companies. HUI Hydrogen Production Process
TRL occupies a site in Co. Tipperary, Ireland comprising approximately 2.64 hectares 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’s also big enough to house TRL’s operations as well as a HUI waste plastic to hydrogen facility. TRL’s landlord has agreed in writing to allow HUI to sublease the property. The site has planning permission for TRL’s plastic to wax pyrolysis business. It is expected that HUI will seek all necessary regulatory approvals for its new facility.
TRL’s landlord and HUI’s representatives have talked extensively about the site, the proposed HUI facility, and TRL’s business. TRL, in particular its founder Pat Alley, is well-connected in Ireland’s waste industry. As a result, HUI has held preliminary discussions with a potential waste plastic investment grade supplier who could provide all of the feedstock needed to run a HUI facility and a potential significant customer who could utilize the anticipated hydrogen and syngas output of the facility and whose covenant would be of very high quality. HUI believes that this could eventually lead to long-term supply and offtake agreements.
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 percent in TRL on a fully diluted basis and a seat on TRL’s board. If TRL obtains all the necessary consents and enters into the DCA on terms that are acceptable to HUI, then HUI and TRL have agreed to use their best efforts to negotiate and enter into a full development and collaboration agreement (DCA) within the next 90 days. To develop the HUI waste plastic to hydrogen facility and TRL’s wax business, the DCA will provide a detailed framework, including a license, a sublease of the site, or other appropriate use agreements 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 obtain the freehold. With the agreement, TRL can also get equity and secured loans from HUI to help them fund their expansion plans.
HUI is in discussions with a third party in relation to a joint venture to build the HUI facility in Ireland.
