Within the sands of north-eastern Alberta lies the second-largest oil reserve in the world. Fielding Chemical Technologies, a Mississauga based company and founding partner in Switchable Solutions, is poised to reinvent the way we will recover this economic goldmine and the way we recycle and reclaim other petroleum-based products.
Words by David Wojcik
“Paradigm shift” and “game changer” are the words used by Switchable Solutions CEO Mark Badger to describe the revolutionary recovery process the company is poised to unveil. Badger, the former President and CEO of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association, was recruited by Ellen McGregor, CEO of Fielding Chemical Technologies, to lead the company Fielding is a partner in.
Currently, the key to the recovery process is the use of solvents—but it’s the solvents that are the problem. When used with the oil sands and other oil-based products like plastics, solvents must be used with hot water or steam. The energy used to heat the water makes the process very expensive and the solvents currently in use are not effective in breaking down the oil compounds and separating the contaminants.
A revolutionary solution
But there’s a secret, and it’s contained in an environmentally friendly, revolutionary solution invented by Dr. Philip Jessop, a Queen’s University chemistry professor. His process changes the distillation procedure from one that is energy-intensive and extremely costly, to one that is not. This ground-breaking solvent can now be used on products where previously it had been costprohibitive. And Switchable Solutions has access to the secret.
Switchable’s initial focus will be on applying the technology to recycle two types of plastic: polystyrene, which is used in the manufacturing of coffee cups and plates, and packaging pellets. Only about 4 per cent of polystyrene containers are recovered, which is a very low return in the recycling world.
The other application is to high-density polyethylene containers. Dr. Jessop’s new solution can eliminate odours and separate contaminants which is a major factor in the repurposing of this type of plastic, used to manufacture containers for motor oil and other hazardous materials. 185 million kilograms per year of these containers are deemed to be hazardous and therefore burned or diverted to landfill. Switchable Solutions can change that process and reintroduce the end product, considered “prime” materials that are as close to virgin as possible.
No more tailings ponds
If this wasn’t exciting enough, this revolutionary solution can be used in the oil sands of Alberta to dramatically reduce the amount of bitumen left by current processes. The Switchable Solutions technology will remove all but 0.2 per cent of the bitumen (commonly and erroneously referred to as tar) from the oil sands.
Current processes, which use steam to separate the oil from the sand, leave from 5 to 7 per cent of the bitumen. The water used in this process is diverted to a tailings pond. The tailings ponds allow the clay, sand and residual bitumen to separate from the water and settle to the bottom of the pond while the water is used over again. Tailings ponds cover 170 square kilometres in northeast Alberta and have been criticized for causing the deaths of thousands of resident and migratory birds. Badger claims the switchable solution will eliminate the need for tailings ponds. When pressed for details, he would only say there are some very big players interested in talking to him when it comes to the oil sands of Alberta.
Badger calls the solvent a “happy chemical” from “green chemistry”. This is because it is organic and safe when it comes in contact with food and is non-hazardous to the environment.
Virgin material
The perception is that recycled products are not as clean as virgin and cost more to produce. Badger maintains that the Switchable Solutions process will remove all contaminants from the recycled material so it may be used as prime or virgin stock and will not need to be used in conjunction with virgin material, which is the case today. Badger also says the recycled product should be slightly less in cost that virgin material and all solvents and water used in the process can used over and over.
Five North American processing plants are scheduled to be built over the first five years. The first will be built here in Mississauga at the Fielding site on Mavis Road, a location that Fielding has occupied since Mississauga was known as Toronto Township. The other plants will be constructed in Montreal, New York State, Ohio and Texas.
The founding partners of Switchable Solutions are Fielding Chemical Technologies of Mississauga, Nexcycle Plastics of Brampton, Stewardship Ontario (The Blue Box people) and Green Centre of Canada in Kingston where Dr. Jessop invented the solution.
Badger credits strategic thinkers like Ellen McGregor, Fielding’s CEO, with recognizing how combining this technology with commercialization is a huge win for a sustainable future. As McGregor has often been quoted as saying, “we need to pay attention to the triple bottom line—people, planet and profit.” With Mark Badger at the helm of Switchable Solutions and backed by visionary Ellen McGregor, this Mississauga-based offshoot of Fielding Chemical Technologies is a company you can bet your grandchildren’s future on.
Switchable Solutions Inc. is a new Ontario company formed earlier this year to rapidly commercialize a breakthrough Green solvent technology that enables efficient, effective and environmentally friendly plastics recycling and oil sands processing. This new process dissolves plastics in a special solvent which under low heat filters out residue and other contaminants. When carbonated water is added in it separates the solvent out and leaves pure plastic behind for easy recycling. The result of five years of research activity led by one of the world’s most respected Green Chemistry researchers, this technology has just completed two years of application development by GreenCentre Canada, and is now poised to deliver significant positive economic and environmental impacts. On June 13 they will be celebrating the launch of Switchable Solutions at the site of its new partner, Fielding Chemical Technologies.
[ Photo Credit: www.switchablesolutions.com. ]
