Los Lunas makes progress on new PlastikGas plant

LOS LUNAS — Progress continues to be made on establishing a permanent plant in Los Lunas that turns plastic into gas and other products.

“We’ve been very busy, and we feel that we’re getting super close,” said Los Lunas Public Works Director Michael Jaramillo. “It’s new to the state of New Mexico, without a doubt, probably even to the country. There’s not very many of these facilities, but we’re excited because I think this is really a good possibility for us to deal with the plastic issue we have.”

In 2022, the village of Los Lunas established a small, proof-of-concept plant off Morris Road in Los Lunas that was able to transform up to 100 pounds of plastic into roughly 15 gallons of fuel per day. The demo plant and accompanying technology is the product of PlastikGas, a company based in Dallas, Texas.

PlastikGas plants can use all seven different types of plastic to produce mainly gasoline and diesel, but also usable kerosene, paraffin, coke and PLG — an additive for steel. According to the company, the plants use proprietary technology that utilizes a heating and cooling process to turn plastic into the resulting fuels.

The process produces “high performance gasoline and diesel” and emissions resulting from the processing plants “do not exceed maximum permissible emission levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency,” according to PlastikGas’ website.

In spring of 2024, Jaramillo announced the village was offered a significant discount by PlastikGas for the purchase of a permanent size two plant for $1.4 million, down from $3.5 million. The size two plant can convert four tons of plastic per shift and every plant is capable of running at least two shifts a day.

Jaramillo said the plant would likely be built at the village’s solid waste transfer station should it be purchased. Eager to pursue the opportunity, the Los Lunas Village Council approved a $200,000 refundable deposit in March 2024 to serve as a placeholder while staff explored the feasibility of a permanent plant.

Since then, the Los Lunas public works team has been figuring out the logistics and obtaining the appropriate tests and permits to turn the idea into a reality. In December, Jaramillo gave an update on the project at a village council meeting.

“We know that there’s other things that could help, like putting in an ordinance to ban plastic bags at the shopping centers. There’s been some push to do that, but it’s kind of challenging and some of the communities are not willing to move in that direction,” Jaramillo said. “The way it looks is plastic is just getting more and more into our society, and there’s the possibility of being able to recycle this.”

In addition, Jaramillo emphasized it will save money in the long-run because currently, between all the departments, the village spends about a million dollars a year for fuel, he said.

Martin Suazo, executive vice president of PlastikGas, said Los Lunas currently receives roughly three tons of discarded plastic per day. However, the village can only recycle a couple kinds of plastic — plastic one and two — so much of the plastic disposed of is discarded into a landfill.

“Having the opportunity to keep all that out of a landfill and to be able to benefit the village … the idea is amazing. As soon as we get running, the citizens need to hear how we are really leading in technology for this area,” said Councilor James Runyon.

When asked by Councilor Cruz Muñoz about emissions, Suazo said it is a closed loop system so emissions are minimal and they do not come from the plastic itself.

“The only thing that goes into the air would be a slight bit of smoke from the propane,” said Suzao.

Mayor Charles Griego said he is eager to see the project progress and that the council is supportive of seeing it completed.

During the Jan. 16 council meeting, Jaramillo provided another update and requested additional funds for the refundable deposit.

“All the design has been done. We just need to finalize some of the last few little requirements in order for us to say that we can move this project forward,” said Jaramillo.

The original deposit agreement with PlastikGas expired in October 2024, said Jaramillo, and the company asked for an additional $300,000 to the deposit agreement. The total price for the plant also increased from $1.4 million to $1.8 million due to what the company cited as increased transportation and manufacturing costs.

“We’re also asking for an extension to that agreement for at least another four months. We think that would be enough time for us to finalize this project,” Jaramillo told the council.

To date, village staff have submitted samples to and have had multiple tests done with the New Mexico Environmental Department to validate that the material is not hazardous. Jaramillo said all they are waiting on now is a clean air certificate which they anticipate to have in May.

All council members then voted in approval of allocating an additional $300,000 toward the refundable deposit “to hopefully deal with our plastic overage that we have in our community, and be able to reduce our landfill load and produce diesel and gas.”