Maybe the $2.5M price tag isn't so bad after all if they are charging so much for catalyst. It's sort of like when your cellular company gives you a $700 phone for only $50 because they are charging you higher monthly rates to make up for it.
Although PTOI did not provide ratios of catalyst to plastic in their patent app, I found many other documents and studies that did. They also use zeolite, so how different could PTOI's be from this? I would assume the ratios are very similar.
The ratio P2O uses is likely around 1:6 catalyst to plastic.
If the customer runs the processor at 2000lb/hour at 80% uptime for a year, that's over 14,000,000 lbs of plastic processed. At $.50/lb for catalyst, the customer pays PTOI $1.17M per year per processor. That could mean huge profits down the line after multiple sales.
The thing that has me worried right now though is the price of oil. To be a profitable process, I think they need to be able to sell No.2 fuel oil closer to $2/gallon. Right now it is about $1.70/gallon because of the oil crash. But, if the customer is more interested in responsible recycling than turning a profit, it shouldn't be an issue.
I hope Rick touches on this subject in Monday's PR.
This study called for a 1:5 ratio of catalyst:plastic.