IRG Erie receives $182.6M federal loan guarantee

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) recently issued a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee to IRG Erie for up to $182.6 million for the construction of a plastics recycling facility in Erie and the installation of an injection system tower at a steel manufacturing facility in Indiana.

The recycling facility will mechanically recycle polyethylene terephthalate, high-density polyethylene, and polypropylene polymers, and produce approximately 20,000 tons annually of CleanRed, an iron-reducing agent used in steel production, from residual plastic output. The facility will convert approximately 160,000 tons per year of post-consumer waste plastic into approximately 100,000 tons annually of recycled plastic materials.

CleanRed replaces a portion of coking coal used in blast furnaces or anthracite coal used in electric arc furnaces. CleanRed produced by the facility will be used by an Indiana steel manufacturer, making IRG Erie will be the first company in the United States to produce and sell a plastic-waste-based iron reducing agent to a domestic steel manufacturer.

Steel production accounts for 7 percent of national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. If there is a 14 percent coking coal replacement rate in blast furnaces, using CleanRed will result in a 24 percent reduction in GHG emissions.

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