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Automobile Wastes Turn Into Energy

Chinook Sciences announced the formation of the first commercial scale joint venture to convert automobile shredder residue into renewable electricity and recover and recycle metal in the process.

The joint venture – named Innovative Environmental Solutions UK Ltd. - will process 120,000 metric tons of automobile shredder residue per year using Chinook’s patented and proprietary RODECS® gasification system. The RODECS® will gasify the ASR, destroying all harmful emissions, recover all valuable material - primarily metal - contained in the ASR for recycling, reduce greenhouse gases on a net basis (300,000 M tons) and generate approximately 30 MW of renewable electricity, enough electricity to power 21,000 homes.

ASR is a waste material created by shredding automobiles and comprises approximately twenty-five percent of the weight of the car. The joint venture will be the first commercial scale operation to productively process ASR, capturing the energy contained within, recovering the metals and glass, and reducing the greenhouse gases.

David Ireland, director of technical services at EMR, based in Warrington, United Kingdom, said, “This alliance with Chinook Sciences is very exciting and a further significant step toward our goal of achieving 95 percent recycling and recovery from our shredding operation and thereby further improving the impact on the environment.”

Dr. Rifat Chalabi, chairman of Chinook Sciences, said, “Partnering with EMR is part of the Chinook Sciences Beyond Landfill Global Initiative, which is designed to form joint ventures with environmentally conscious companies looking for advanced technology to recover valuables and convert waste into renewable energy. A unique and very attractive feature of our technology is the creation of a very large negative carbon footprint.”

“Automobile shredder residue and the RODECS make an ideal fit,” added William Gleason, president of Chinook Energy, a subsidiary of Chinook Sciences dedicated to renewable energy generation from waste sources. “Bringing to bear Chinook’s cutting-edge gasification technology on ASR is a perfect example of the kind of partnership we can forge to create low-cost, renewable energy and help move the world towards sustainability.”