CCI BioEnergy, an Oakville-based company which licenses out an organic waste treatment and biogas technology, plans to expand its waste streams and markets, a strategy to be led by its president William Selten.

Founded in 1992, CCI is the exclusive license holder for the BTA Process in North America, a technology developed by German company BTA International.

The process involves the separation and pretreatment of wastes, resulting in an organic material that can be converted into biogas, a renewable fuel.

A major client is the City of Toronto. In July, it was announced CCI was awarded a contract to supply key process equipment for the expansion of the Disco Road Organics Processing Facility. The project is to increase the facility's processing capacity from 75,000 tonnes per year to 125,000 tonnes.

Selten, a waste management veteran who served as a project manager at CCI before being elevated to president in July, plans to maintain this momentum in his role. In an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada, Selten outlined his plans to grow the company, move into wastewater treatment and look beyond Canada.

“I was already building up the organization and being part of the face of the company and the sales. So this was a really a natural progression for me.”

Selten’s background

A mechanical engineer hailing from the Netherlands with almost two decades of experience in solid waste management, Selten started his career as a site manager for an anaerobic digestion facility in the Netherlands operated by Orgaworld B.V.

In 2018, he became a technical manager at Renewi Canada (formerly Orgaworld Canada) in Surrey, B.C. The company was acquired by Dutch investment firm Convent Capital a year later. It was then renamed Convertus following a merger with Waste Treatment Technologies. At Convertus, Selten was a process design and engineering director.

Selten got in touch with Evergreen Environmental Inc., the parent company of CCI, and was approached by the owner of Evergreen to build up CCI, rebrand the company and build its team, Selten said. He took on the opportunity, and was appointed president.

BTA Process provides flexibility to clients

CCI sells, markets and tweaks BTA’s technology for the North American market, and also manages projects and offers various delivery models to its clients.

The BTA Process can handle organic, mixed solids and wastewater streams. From the three, the BTA Process can filter out contaminants such as plastics, metals and glass, outputting organic matter that can be used to produce biogas through anaerobic digestion. Once subject to anaerobic digestion, the organic matter is composted while the non-organic and non-compostable materials are sent to landfill.

The BTA Process allow cities to process organics regardless of the waste being separated or not, Selten said, “and gives them flexibility.” For example, diapers can be tossed into the organics bin in Toronto despite the fabrics and plastics because of the technology it licenses, he explained.

In North America, CCI has helped process approximately 185,000 tonnes of waste per year, Selten said, and produce 460,000 gigajoules of biogas per year.

There is a climate benefit to the biogas, as it mitigates powerful methane emissions from decaying organic waste, and reduces the need to extract more natural gas.

Continue ‘what CCI is doing really well’

Ever since Evergreen acquired CCI, it wanted Selten to run the company, he said. Now as president, he plans to orient himself toward sales duties and being client-facing.

Over the coming months, CCI plans to announce new projects and clients. One example Selten gave is the start of engineering on the company's first mixed solid waste asset in the U.S.

Another priority of CCI under Selten is to address wastewater in the U.S., as that category is where he believes growth will be found. The wastewater sector is projected to be particularly fruitful in California.

Selten plans to add three to four more members to CCI’s team of approximately 12 to strengthen its sales and project management divisions as well.

“We’ve taken what CCI is doing really well, trying to spread it out all of North America, to have a much wider footprint,” he said.