Re-Du signs its first pilot deal, sets sights on Knoxville as its long-term home
The company offers recycling platform that converts difficult-to-recycle plastic waste into high-value chemical building blocks.
Almost three years ago, Teknovation introduced readers to Re-Du and its founder, Md “Arif” Arifuzzaman, whose organocatalyst can break down plastics without any need for color or category sorting.
The company first proved its chemistry at the gram scale while participating in Innovation Crossroads back in 2023. Then, they successfully demonstrated it at a 1-kilogram scale at Vanderbilt University‘s Guelcher Lab.
Now, Arifuzzaman has a signed pilot deal, onboarded a new C-suite hire, and has a growing list of dreams.
A pilot partnership
Re-Du and Flexcon have entered into a pilot evaluation agreement to assess Re-Du’s processing of PET-containing adhesive-backed waste generated from Flexcon’s operations. Under the evaluation, Flexcon is expected to provide representative waste material and engineering support while Re-Du evaluates the recovery of adhesive-related streams and PET-derived products.
Initial feed availability is expected to be approximately 2,000 pounds per week, subject to Flexcon’s confirmation of actual generation rates and material suitability.
The relationship goes back to a conference connection roughly two years ago. Currently, Flexcon has a waste stream that resists both mechanical and conventional chemical recycling. Arifuzzaman was asked whether his process could handle their multi-layered adhesive packaging material.
“We tested different materials and showed them that we can handle this,” Arifuzzaman said. “Based on that relationship and those results, they were interested to move forward.”
Onboarding a CTO
With this pilot announcement, Re-Du also recently added Dr. Omar Basha as Chief Technology Officer. Basha brings experience in process scale-up, engineering and commercialization.
Arifuzzaman says that this expertise is exactly what’s needed to help lead the company’s transition from lab to pilot-scale to eventual commercialization.
Dreaming big and local
Even as the Flexcon pilot positions the company outside Tennessee, Arifuzzaman is angling to keep Re-Du’s roots, and its eventual headquarters, in town.
Arifuzzaman is interested in planning a community-focused initiative to collect PET waste from local restaurants and businesses in the Knoxville area while he is away. Then, he hopes a Knoxville pilot facility could be in the cards to support the regional economy and the circular plastics ecosystem.
Longer term, Arifuzzaman envisions a “mothership” model: a central Tennessee facility that produces the company’s catalyst and distributes it to satellite pilot plants around the country.
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