Thermal Conversion Technology

• Waste Disposal – providing an environmentally friendly and cost effective alternative to the landfill disposal or incineration of industrial and commercial waste streams;
• Green Power Generation – the production of zero carbon, green energy that can be sold for use in municipal and commercial heating and power applications;
• Zero Carbon Cement Additives – our proprietary mineral product, Top-Crete®, is a stable, non-toxic mineral product that is used as a high performance, zero carbon admixture to Portland cement, as a replacement for Portland cement and/or lime products, or as a zero carbon mineral binder;
• Sorbent for Mercury Capture – our MinPlus™ product is a highly effective, cost competitive mineral sorbent that captures toxic mercury emissions from coal fired power stations; and
• Carbon Credits – energy and mineral products produced using our technology are eligible for carbon credits.

From our background serving the Dutch paper recycling industry, we are now responding to demand from a broad range of industry sectors and geographic markets. In addition to exciting opportunities in our core paper recycling market, we see particular potential in the global cement production and power generation industries where our technology is helping leading companies address regulatory compliance challenges relating to air emissions and mercury abatement.

Driven by the introduction of strict environmental regulations in Europe, North America and Asia, (often supported by tax-based pricing regimes), to serve the needs of the global paper recycling industry alone, we see the potential to build approximately 150 to 200 plants worldwide, each incorporating our technology and with a total waste processing capacity of circa. 30 million tonnes per annum.

The primary output of MinPlus-CDEM’s process is a stable, non-toxic mineral product “TopCrete®” that can be used as a high performance, zero carbon admixture to Portland cement as a cement / quicklime replacement. The material is composed mainly of meta-kaolin and calcium compounds with the precise composition depending on the chemistry of the paper residue inputs and the thermal conditions applied.

The key advantage of Top-Crete® is that it allows the achievement of significant reductions in Portland cement usage without compromising functional performance levels. The production of Portland cement currently generates very high levels of CO₂, with almost 0.8 tonnes of CO₂ emitted during the production of each tonne of Portland cement. By eliminating the need for these emissions, Top-Crete® offers the global cement industry a route to achieving much needed reductions in CO₂ emissions.

Our Duiven plant has sufficient capacity to produce more than 43,000 tonnes of high-performance Top-Crete® annually.

Worldwide, we estimate that processing the current global supply of paper sludges using our technology could generate circa 7 million tonnes of cementitious additives, while preventing approximately 5.7 million tonnes per annum of CO₂ emissions¹.

The underlying Top-Crete® production process has been patented by MinPlus-CDEM.

MinPlus™ is a highly efficient non-carbon sorbent that has been shown to capture up to 90 per cent. of mercury emissions in various “in-power plant” demonstrations (versus up to 70 per cent. for alternative activated carbon sorbents for Bituminous Coals with ESP)¹.

MinPlus™ is a thermally produced reactive mineral mixture containing active clay and calcium compounds. Its small mean particle size (10µm) and wide pore structure (15m2/g) makes it an effective injectable sorbent. MinPlus™ captures and chemically binds mercury at furnace operating temperatures. It is safe and does not combust in particulate collection devices – unlike certain carbon-based sorbents.

MinPlus™ is used to reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired plants and other solid-fuel furnaces has been shown to work effectively for bituminous coal applications, irrespective of the chlorine content and loss-on-ignition level in different coal types.

Approximately 50 per cent. of all electric power in the United States is currently generated from coal fired power stations². A fundamental problem arising from the use of coal in power generation is the production of harmful mercury emissions that are believed to be highly damaging to human health. Tightening emissions legislation in the United States has resulted in substantial and growing demand for mineral products (sorbents) capable of absorbing mercury emissions from power station emissions.

The market for sorbents is currently estimated to be worth well in excess of $2 billion per annum³ and is served by technologies such as activated carbon. In power plant research carried out at Whitewater demonstrates that MinPlus™ offers significant performance and cost saving benefits versus incumbent technologies such as activated carbon.

1 Source: Activated Carbon Injection for Mercury Control by Sharon Sjostrom, Cam martin, Jonathan Barr and Linda Rathbun, ADA-ES Inc. (American Coal Council)

2 Source: Energy Information Administration

3 Source: Mercury Regulation in the US – The cost of mercury control ranges from $1.7bn to $10bn as per US Federal agencies. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the lower estimate assumes a reduction of 65% in power sector emissions and was expected to be achieved through a combination of technology and policy

Our technology offers users a range of opportunities to secure carbon credits, both through the generation of zero carbon green energy (which can be offset against CO₂ emissions from paper production), and from the production of high performance mineral products (which offers cement and sorbent producers a route to achieving material reductions in overall CO₂ emissions).