Pyrolysise has launched it’s SEED raise under the UK’s SEIS / EIS Tax Structure. Pyrolysise completed its pre-seed fundraise for £250K last October.
Since 2018, John Bell and Osanan Barros have been identifying technologies capable of processing unsorted existing and new waste and waste in open and capped landfill sites. John has personally invested circa £1.5M in this venture. His bio is in the IM, but if the success of a young company is based on management, the signs are good.
Please note that in my experience, those that have been involved in the corporate world, are largely not that suitable for developing young companies. They need to have run the entrepreneurial gauntlet. John has built up several businesses before and started ADA which grew its contract value to over $2 billion in 2010.
The technology they have selected is Carbonisation, which is an extreme form of Pyrolysis. It produces close to zero emissions and close to no particulate pollutants and results in the offtakes of bio-coal, bio-char, bio-oil and mineral recyclables. The uses of these offtakes vary, from simple recycling to electricity generation, but they are relatively valuable.
Pyrolysise has signed agreements with 3 suppliers of the carbonisation technology and has been involved in their development to meet the needs of chosen markets. Pyrolysise is in active discussions with 2 sites in the UK for installation of the technology. In each case, the sites, which are relatively small, have planning permission for the installation of a 3 and 5 tonne per hour plant respectively.
However, Pyrolysise accepts that the challenges to scaling this business primarily is NIMBYism (not in my backyard). To counter this, John Bell specifically sought out 350 PPM to act as environmental consultants and and support the roll out of innovative technology. It is most likely that Waste Carbonisation Plants (WCPs), will be branded 350 Pyrolysise, thus highlighting our involvement and environmental credentials.
Utilising 350 PPM’s branding and environmental credentials, we can start to turn NIMBY into YIMBY (YES In My Backyard), through the installation of relatively small waste processing plants throughout the country. This is because people do accept that waste must be processed somewhere, and that waste and plastics can no longer be exported to the far east. Currently landfill sites are often seen as ‘blots on the landscape’ because the waste is not processed quickly and efficiently enough and this leads to infestations of rodents, smells, the release of noxious gases and perhaps presents further dangers through leachate of substances into the water table and illegal wastes in the landfills that we do not know about. Furthermore, as the population experiences a housing availability and affordability crisis, initiatives to reduce the size of waste processing areas can only be seen as positive.
The current gate fee (charge to enter and deposit waste) for companies is £90 per tonne of waste. These fees plus the offtakes that the technology produces should sell at a price of at least £50 per tonne means that a 3 ton per hour plant, running 23 hours per day will produce revenues of circa £289,900 per month.
One existing Carbonisation plant (not owned by Pyrolysise) is currently processing 10% MSW (municipal solid waste) and 90% plastics. The waste processing subsidies for plastics which will be introduced soon are estimated to be circa £300 per tonne. This may be a further valuable revenue stream in the revenue stack.
Overall, the waste market is highly fragmented with 75% of waste processing facilities owned privately by smaller operators and outside the hands of BIFFA, Veolia and other larger players. The increase in environmental regulations and scrutiny means existing waste handling companies may be looking for an exit from an increasingly challenging market from giving an excellent opportunity for Pyrolysise to create a new approach with a profitable and efficient operation.
Leasing waste processing facilities to install 350 Pyrolysise WCP’s is Part 1.
Part 2 is landfill mining, landfill reclamation and redevelopment as housing, retail facilities or industrial purposes. Included in the Pyrolysise IM are details of all the landfills in the UK, both open and capped.
There are over 500 operational landfill sites throughout the UK. There are many more capped landfill sites that still emit climate warming and noxious gases, not to mention potential leachate of harmful substances into the water table. In addition, there are circa 1,500 coastal landfill sites which are exposing waste due to coastal erosion.
While we cannot be certain, our assumption, is that only a few people really know what is in each landfill. A landfill in Juarez, the murder capital of the world, was one site selected for a methane capture and utilisation project under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The yield of methane / natural gas (CH4) was abnormally high. There was of course a sickening reason for this. What is in our landfills is not really known, but Pyrolysise’s belief is that existing landfills, both open and capped, represent a severe liability to their owners.
Pyrolysise estimates that the majority of legitimate landfills in the UK are between 50 and 300 hectares in size. Due to increased urbanisation, these locations have now become prime real estate. They also, most likely contain vast amounts of processable material and mineral recyclables which can be mined, processed and sold.
Here is one example: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-65632220
Pyrolysise aims to address the following problems:
- unsightly and unhealthy waste,
- growing mountains of waste plastic,
- increasing pressures on climate change,
- lack of land for housing.
350 PPM is very committed to this business and has become a major partner in Pyrolysise because of the scale and positive impact that can be achieved, and our belief in the capabilities of John Bell and his experienced team.
To download Pyrolysise’s IM click here: