Jan 4 2013
Klean Industries Inc. ("Klean") a Canadian Energy Solutions Company announces its intent to collaborate with The Dow Chemical Company ("Dow") to recover energy, chemicals and oil from end-of-life waste plastics that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
This supports Dow's drive to improve the sustainability profile of plastic packaging, it plans to collaborate with Klean on the possibility of developing low impact recovery facilities across North America.
The two companies have extended a three year letter of intent which allows them to combine proprietary technologies, knowledge and resources to provide "best in class" solutions for end-of-life mixed plastics. The recovery of waste plastics for their energy value provides an opportunity to reduce dependence on fossil fuels while recovering a valuable resource. Klean's advanced thermal conversion technology, which has been developed and used commercially in Japan captures the inherent value in oil rich packaging plastics.
Jesse Klinkhamer, Chief Executive Officer of Klean Industries said, "There is a global opportunity with the ever increasing amounts of plastic waste and we are pleased to provide a solution for dealing with it." Dow recently visited the world's largest plastics-to-oil recycling plant in Japan with Klean, whose company owns the technology IP. Jeff Wooster, Dow's Global Sustainability Leader, Performance Plastics said, "After years of research in the technology market place and visiting many facilities around the globe, Klean's technology is clearly a leader." Of the 50 tonne per day plant Wooster added, "This is the only technology we have seen that has consistently operated for over a decade on a commercial scale." Even more impressive is the fact that the facility Dow visited processed mixed plastics, including plastics such as PET and PVC at up to 20% of the in-feed supply in addition to the more predominant polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene while at the same time the facility also produced over 4MWe of green electricity.
With millions of tonnes of end-of-life plastic currently being landfilled and the ability to recover approximately 950 litres of oil (depending on the plastics) from a tonne of mixed plastic waste, Klean believes there is potential for many such facilities around the globe. In addition to mechanical recycling there is a need for complementary methods to reclaim value from used packaging and there is a tangible market opportunity to increase the sustainability of end-of-life plastic packaging.
"With Klean's expertise in plastic recycling technologies and their unique market understanding, we look forward to working with Klean on this exciting opportunity," said Jeff Wooster.
Klean proprietary technologies have been in commercial operation for over 30 years and are able to process a wide variety of polymer waste such as plastics and tires and other post-industrial materials. Oil based waste streams such as end-of-life plastics are converted into high grade liquid fuels, syngas, electricity and nano-scale carbon black fillers that are compatible with customers' existing end uses and product formulations, making these products simple to integrate into new or existing products throughout the supply chain. These products help companies achieve sustainability goals, while helping manage the high cost of non-renewable raw materials.
"Klean's primary customer base includes energy utilities, waste management companies, manufacturing businesses and government bodies across North America and Europe who see Energy Recovery as an important part of the hierarchy of Integrated Resource Management. This effort is part of our broader technology approach at Klean, aimed at providing sustainable energy products and solutions without environmental compromise. Our collaboration with Dow is a critical step in realizing our goal of "100% Recycling and Recovery of End-of-Life Packaging," said Jesse Klinkhamer.