Delta refinery subsidiary strikes deal to convert plastic into jet fuel

This Thursday, April 19, 2012 file photo shows the ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer, Pa., near Philadelphia. Delta Air Lines Inc. Monday, April 30, 2012 said it will buy the refinery as part of an unprecedented deal that it hopes will cut its jet fuel bill. Delta is buying the Trainer, Pa. refinery from Phillips 66, a refining company being spun off from ConocoPhillips. Delta says a subsidiary will pay $150 million, including $30 million in job-creation assistance it is getting from the state of Pennsylvania.

Credit: Alex Brandon

Credit: Alex Brandon

This Thursday, April 19, 2012 file photo shows the ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer, Pa., near Philadelphia. Delta Air Lines Inc. Monday, April 30, 2012 said it will buy the refinery as part of an unprecedented deal that it hopes will cut its jet fuel bill. Delta is buying the Trainer, Pa. refinery from Phillips 66, a refining company being spun off from ConocoPhillips. Delta says a subsidiary will pay $150 million, including $30 million in job-creation assistance it is getting from the state of Pennsylvania.

Delta Air Lines' oil refinery subsidiary has struck a deal to convert plastic into jet fuel.

Atlanta-based Delta's subsidiary Monroe Energy, which operates an oil refinery in Trainer, Pa., has a new agreement with environmental technology firm Agilyx.

The agreement calls for Agilyx to supply about 2,500 barrels a day of synthetic feedstock converted from waste plastic by 2020.

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Agilyx uses "an innovative process, reducing the amount of plastic that is currently being landfilled," said Monroe Energy CEO Jeff Warmann in a written statement.

Tigard, Ore.-based Agilyx counts Virgin Group founder Richard Branson as an investor. Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airways is also a Delta partner.

"This is a major step forward in the search for a cost effective low carbon aviation fuel," Branson said in a written statement. "The beauty of the Agilyx process is it will take waste plastics, which are a major problem for the environment, and turn it into something useful.”

Delta earlier this year announced it was seeking an investment partner for the Trainer refinery,