Every month, Ben Franklin Technology Partners hosts a networking luncheon at Innovation Park. The November event, held on November 16, featured an introduction by Dr. Barry Scheetz of his business, Elixsys Group, LLC. A new tenant of the Tech Center Incubator, Elixsys Group is a waste remediation technology company that is tackling the major global problem of coal fly ash.

Fly ash contains huge amounts of incredibly valuable resources, including metals and rare earth elements (REEs). Currently, the U.S. relies mainly on foreign sources for REEs, with China controlling 95% of the market. Massive ash containment areas have been building up for decades. But Elixsys has developed a patent-pending process of leaching the valuable resources from fly ash that is holistic, safe, and environmentally friendly. The technology can also be used on any other metal-containing source, like bottom ash, metal slurry, or contaminated soil.

“It is truly a green technology,” said Scheetz, Principal Scientist of Elixsys Group and retired Penn State professor of Materials and Civil Engineering.

Scheetz said that the process is a technology breakthrough that will not only solve the planet’s fly ash problem, but should also have a significant market value. According to Scheetz, the process can recover upwards of $800,000 worth of elements per 1,000 tons of fly ash per day.

Elixsys Group is currently in the process of moving forward with its technology. It has three patents pending and is seeking significant funding to vet the process all the way through. The group is located at Suite 253 of the Tech Center.