Apr 16 2019
Vincent Keller recollects alarming facts: the World Bank expects 70% waste growth by 2050. With the aim of share in the fight against this inevitable growth, the CEO of Clean Carbon Conversion recently partnered with a team of engineers who have been working for 25 years to convert waste into energy.
© 2019 EPFL
The suggested solution appears ideal: invisible (unlike photovoltaic panels or wind turbines), no emissions (no incinerators, landfills), no problem of recycling equipment (such as nuclear), waste treated locally (without transport) and by those who create them. In short, Clean Carbon Conversion suggests that each locality can develop its own energy by treating its waste using a machine that is very simple to use but highly complex to develop: the Ultra high temperature hydrolysis (UHTH).
Coming in three models (treatment of 5, 25 or 50 tons of waste per day), the UHTH can handle all types of waste (toxic or not, infectious substances, etc.), changing them to 95% of gas clean synthetic material, which can later be used for the manufacture of hydrogen or electricity for instance. The rest 5% signifies sterile solid waste.
From innovation to marketing
Vincent Keller has to face the challenge of performing this large-scale change management within this company made up of a team of R&D professionals. They are mostly related to the evolution from a business of experts, unfamiliar to sales, to a real business oriented customer and sales process. This technology is still niche and needs publicity so as to persuade investors and partners.
The CEO also highlighted that, so as to allow this company to grow at its pace, it is vital not to undervalue the corporate culture, its principles, and its experience. Its development should not only be directed towards actions and results to be realized, but it must make it possible to reach an ideal in its field of operation: to boost a decentralized solution, near the consumer, to valorize waste in energy that is clean, efficient, and lucrative.
Source: https://www.epfl.ch/en/home/