It’s spelled Zzyxx, pronounced “ziziks,” and aims to be the last word in the plastics and recycling industries. The Allentown startup is developing a novel plastic polymers manufacturing process called continuous mechanochemical compatibilization (CMC).
“It has the ability to literally change the way people think about plastics,” co-founder Mark Tapsak told the Allentown Economic Development Corporation's (AEDC) “In the Zone” newsletter. “It can be huge.”
The National Science Foundation awarded Zzyxx Polymers a $737,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant in August to demonstrate the first commercial-scale processing of post-consumer plastic materials for high-value applications using CMC. AEDC says the technology can be used to manufacture anything from ballpoint pens to automobile bumpers. Unlike traditional plastics recycling, where the original materials must be meticulously cleaned and separated before being melted and remolded into new products, CMC pulverizes and combines the materials at a molecular level. No sorting or cleaning makes recycling of plastics more cost-competitive.
Zzyxx recently moved into AEDC's Bridgeworks Enterprise Center where it has set up its manufacturing equipment, aided by a significant electrical upgrade to meet the company's power needs. The company has also received support from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Phil Brunner, who co-founded Zzyxx with Tapsak and Mike Janse, says the company is “weeks away from turning our machines on” and expects to start producing prototype plastic resins by the middle of this month.
As Zzyxx moves towards commercializing its technology (licensed intellectual property from Northwestern University in Illinois and Bucknell), they already have ambitious goals, hoping to reach over $2 million in revenue and employ 10 by year three.
Source: Phil Brunner,Zzyxx and “In the Zone,” AEDC
Writer: Elise Vider
