Green solvent system forms basis of GreenCentre’s first spinoff company

Switchable Solution appoints CEO and embarks on commercialization

30-Mar-2011 - Canada

GreenCentre Canada announced the founding of its first spinoff company, Switchable Solutions Inc. Based on a breakthrough green solvent technology discovered at Queen’s University, Switchable Solutions will take aim at some of the world’s most pervasive environmental challenges, from plastic recycling to oil sands processing.

Switchable Solutions’ switchable solvent system has broad applications, ranging from cleaning dirty machinery, soil, and drilling muds to extracting bitumen from oil sands and oil from seeds or algae. It has also shown to be highly effective in recycling of plastic.

Unlike traditional solvents – one of the chemical industry’s most widely used compounds – the Switchable Solutions solvent system offers all of the advantages of traditional solvent systems, while overcoming many of their disadvantages. The solvent is of low toxicity, green, and reusable. It can be used and manipulated at ambient temperature and pressure without the use of energy-intensive and expensive distillation.

The company’s first targets are post-consumer polystyrene, commonly used as food and beverage containers, and expandable polystyrene foam (EPS), used for protective packaging. Currently these two materials are landfilled because polystyrene is often contaminated with plastics or organic materials as food waste, and the bulk relative to weight of EPS makes it difficult and uneconomical to ship, store and process.

“Switchable Solutions’ green solvent makes it possible to separate and reclaim both types of polystyrene into reusable pellets, potentially diverting as much as 50,000 tonnes from landfills every year in Ontario alone,” says Rui Resendes, Executive Director of GreenCentre.

“This technology’s breadth of applications and its potential for economic and environmental benefits have already passed muster by our scientific team and industrial partners,” added Dr. Resendes. “Switchable Solutions enables us to create specialized applications that we believe are going to enhance several business sectors as well as the environment.”

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/130629/green-solvent-system-forms-basis-of-greencentres-first-spinoff-company.html