Using a process called anaerobic digestion, the company takes wastes from food processors, farms and treatment facilities and uses them to produce biogas (60% methane), which can be supplied to natural gas utilities, used to generate electricity, or further processed as compressed natural gas.
Advanced Energy
Do companies benefit from the efforts of organizations such as NorTech to develop a cluster? Jay Schabel, the CEO of RES Polyflow, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, says he was "one of the bigger skeptics" regarding government-supported efforts to promote businesses but he is an unabashed supporter of NorTech. "They see their role in the right light and that is making this cluster commercially viable."
Polyflow offers an innovative technology that allows recycling of mixed dirty plastic and rubber waste, such as tires, carpeting and e-waste, which now end up in landfills or are incinerated. The process produces fuels such as gasoline and diesel but also monomers and solvents that can serve as the feedstock for engineering polymers. Polyflow says its process, if used nationwide, could reduce U.S. dependence on foreign crude oil over 3.5% annually.
 | In creating an industry, we are seeing partnerships develop that probably would not have developed if we had not gotten into the mindset of being a cluster." -Jay Schabel, CEO of RES Polyflow |
Schabel says initially he was not conscious of being part of a cluster, but that has changed as he has worked with NorTech. "Now I do emphatically for two selfish reasons. One, we need attention and people to believe that we are a real burgeoning industry. That has been a struggle and having NorTech helped put us on the map as something viable. I don't think we would be building our first commercial processor if that had not happened.
"The other is that in creating an industry, we are seeing partnerships develop that probably would not have developed if we had not gotten into the mindset of being a cluster. I know my competitors and we all know that we are not really competing with each other. There is plenty of polymer waste to go around. We are competing with the disbelief that there is an industry or that we are viable, and with landfills, frankly, because that is where it is all going."
Advanced energy has the potential to define the future of the country, says Caroline Henry, vice president, Marketing for quasar energy, but many of the companies in the industry are small.
"NorTech with the cluster has increased the speed of innovation for companies like quasar by introducing us to local engineering firms, suppliers and customers with related capabilities and interests," she says.
Quasar began life as Schmack BioEnergy. When the company built its first plant in 2006, it used all European components. The lead time in getting components was huge, Henry said, and high costs were exacerbated because of currency differences. When ownership changed, the company decided to bring engineering design, construction and laboratory services in-house. Quasar also drew on northeast Ohio's strong manufacturing community, finding businesses that built components similar to what it needed and bringing them on board as suppliers. Today, says Henry, the company sources virtually all its equipment in the United States and approximately 85% in Ohio.
Small companies aren't the only ones that benefit from involvement in clusters. Through a NorTech event, Rockwell Automation learned about Vadxx Energy, an early stage waste-to-energy company. Rockwell offered its expertise in helping Vadxx make the move from validating its technology to developing a pilot plant. It provided detailed engineering, research and modeling to bring its plant on line.
Rockwell Automation's involvement helped validate Vadxx's technology and put it in a more credible position as it sought investment to commercialize its process. For Rockwell, says John Nesi, vice president for market development, the Vadxx project exposed the firm to a new technology and a new facet of the energy industry.
"Could this be a good customer or the front end of an industry that is going to develop?" he said. "It is a business development activity for us. It is good for Rockwell as a learning experience and from a base growth perspective."
The value of clusters to manufacturing has been championed by the Obama administration. In May, it announced a $26 million multi-agency Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, a grant program expected to fund 12 projects that will "create jobs, grow the economy, and enhance the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers in the global marketplace."
