KPM-Accelerate is proud to announce that we have welcomed Jeosal, a fellow business from Kingston, ON, to our Pathways Program! We will be offering Jeosal support as they commercialize their process for producing recycled carbon and glass fibres that are on par with the quality of new, virgin fibres.
With their technology already far along in its development, Jeosal is working with KPM-Accelerate to complete a life cycle assessment, financial modelling, and pathway mapping in order to quantify the environmental and economics benefits of their recycling technology, and plan for their future funding needs.
About Jeosal
After half a decade of experience researching polymers and composites, Jeosal was founded in 2018 with the goal of transforming the way that fibre reinforced plastics are recycled. The Government of Canada estimates that over 43,000 fibreglass vessels reach end of life each year, with many of these ending up in landfills or waterways. There are existing fibreglass recycling approaches such as mechanical grinding, solvolysis, and pyrolysis, but these have drawbacks including providing low quality recycled fibres and adverse environmental impacts.
By exploiting the advantages of such techniques, while also reducing the time and energy costs associated with them, Jeosal aims to produce recycled fibres which are on par with virgin fibres. If the quality and price of their recycled fibres are able to meet that of virgin fibres, it will eliminate the incentive to favour cheap virgin fibres over recycled ones!
Jeosal may be working to commercialize their technology for recycling fibre reinforced composites today, but their story didn’t start there.
The Start
Jeosal began with Alice Senso, a M.Eng. graduate of Queen’s University and current EMBA student at Smith School of Business, and her business partner, also a Queen’s University alum with a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering , combining their technical and business backgrounds. At the time, Jeosal was focusing on research into polymers and composites—specifically on developing composite materials with enhanced mechanical, electrical and thermal properties that would replace traditional materials in various applications.
The Spark
Things began to change for Jeosal in the fall of 2018 when they incorporated in order to meet the requirements to apply for ISED’s Canadian Plastics Challenge. This innovation challenge supported 153 businesses and included many different subtopics, including the “Recycling of Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic” (GFRP).
In March of 2019, Jeosal was sponsored by Transport Canada to develop a proof-of-concept for a Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic recycling technology. In April 2020, Transport Canada chose to sponsor Jeosal again for a two-year project developing a prototype of their fiberglass recycling technology. Over its two stages, this challenge provided over $800,000 in funding to support Jeosal’s technological development.
During this time, Jeosal also began working with other Canadian cleantech organizations to help accelerate their growth. In 2021 they joined Foresight Canada’s Kickstart program in order to define their market opportunity and transition into the commercialization of their technology. In January, 2022, Jeosal also joined Climate Ventures, a joint initiative between Foresight and the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) to get growth stage business advisory services.
The Growth Arc
Jeosal is currently focusing on commercializing their recycling process for fibre reinforced composites such as fibreglass from marine vessels and wind turbine blades, as well as carbon fibre reinforced plastics from aerospace and automotive applications, but their goals go beyond that. Their vision is to become a global influence and preferred solution in the recycling of such materials, while also drawing on their background in composites and polymers to develop novel composites from their recycled materials in order to create a truly circular lifecycle.
KPM-Accelerate is excited to provide economic and business insights into Jeosal’s technology to help them navigate their commercialization process and manifest their vision.
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