Sustane Technologies to build waste to biomass facility in Chester, N.S.

Sustane Technologies Inc. is working to commercialize and globally market a new disruptive technology that diverts municipal waste from landfills and safely converts it into clean energy and other recyclable materials.

Sustane’s CEO Peter Vinall spent 35 years in the pulp and paper industry as an engineer and senior executive. After witnessing many mill closures, he began to seek transformative solutions for traditional sectors and the communities that sustain them. Along his journey, he saw an opportunity to transform the way communities manage waste and in 2014 he partnered with Spanish inventor Javier De La Fuente to develop a solution.

“We are excited about our technology; it’s different from anything out there today,” said Vinall. “Our long-term vision at Sustane Technologies is to build a technology company that can market this clean alternative to communities around the world. Our new operation in Chester will be a showcase site and brings us one step closer to that vision.”

The company’s proprietary technologies separate garbage into plastics, metals, glass, moisture and biomass. This allows each material to be leveraged as a valuable asset. One of those assets is Sustane’s core product, a high-purity biomass fuel pellet. Other value streams are in development. 

The process does not involve incineration, chemicals or pollutants, has relatively low setup costs it can be used on a small or large scale.

Sustane has already proven their technology on a large pilot scale and now they’re ready to validate and demonstrate it at full commercial scale. 

Engineers and suppliers are designing and building the commercial demonstration plant, which is expected to be up and running in mid-2016. 

The municipality will see all of its garbage removed from the landfill—at a rate of 200 tons per day—and will save money in the long run as a result.

The Government of Canada is providing a $500,000 repayable contribution, through Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s Business Development Program (BDP), to Sustane Technologies to acquire special equipment for the development of the plant.