GreenCentre Canada stimulates $3.2 million in investment in breakthrough Queen’s technology
A bold new approach to commercializing Canadian research discoveries in green chemistry has resulted in a $3.2 million vote of confidence from industry investors and venture capitalists.
The approach, pioneered by GreenCentre Canada has led to the development of a promising green solvent technology with a broad array of potential uses, from clean oil sands recovery to plastics recycling and oil extraction from seeds or algae.
The technology was discovered by Dr. Philip Jessop, Canada Research Chair in Green Chemistry at Queen’s University, and forms the basis of a new Ontario company, Switchable Solutions Inc., established earlier this year by GreenCentre.
The investment, in the form of an initial equity offering, will be used to help the startup company bring its technology to market. This investment is a significant milestone for GreenCentre, which was formed only two years ago by PARTEQ Innovations, the technology transfer office of Queen’s University.
“Our model is about turning great expectations around green discoveries into demonstrated value,” says Dr. Rui Resendes, Executive Director of GreenCentre. “In this case we proved the value of this technology so effectively that we were able to start a company and raise significant money to support it.”
“Both GreenCentre Canada and PARTEQ played important roles in advancing our technology from the pure research stage to the market-ready development stage,” says Mark Badger, CEO of Switchable Solutions.
“With Switchable Solutions’ initial equity offering complete and other financings nearing conclusion, we are poised to deliver technology that will have a transformational impact on our customers’ profitability, as well as a significant positive impact on the environment.”
Partners in the SSI investment round include strategic industrial partners, financial partners and management. Approximately half of the offering resulted from cash injections, with the remainder through development services provided by strategic industrial partners. The company’s shareholders now include GreenCentre Canada, Fielding Chemical Technologies Inc., Pressure Chemicals Inc., Stewardship Ontario, Nexcycle Plastics Inc., Fallingbrook Management Inc. and Switchable Solutions’ management.
Since its inception earlier this year, the company has completed numerous laboratory-scale applications of its technology to the extraction of bitumen from oil sands. These trials have indicated the technology’s potential to significantly reduce oil sands processing costs and eliminate tailing ponds. In addition, these trials have confirmed the ability of Switchable Solutions’ technology to effectively extract bitumen from difficult clay-laced ore. The company is embarking upon construction of a pilot oil sands processing facility.
The company has also recycled trial quantities of expanded polystyrene plastic waste, including cushion packaging. These trials have produced recycled materials displaying similar characteristics to virgin polystyrene. A producer of plastic consumer products has now validated Switchable Solutions’ trial materials. The company is embarking upon construction of a plastic recycling demonstration plant at Fielding Chemical’s Mississauga site.
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