Synertec's oil waste solution completes pilot in China; shares take off

Synertec (ASX:SOP) shares have more than doubled after news its answer to oil waste passed a pilot program in China.

Chinese company Sichuan Greentech has been testing Synertec’s oil waste recycling technology in two pilot programs with distinct Chinese State Owned Enterprises.

Synertec has funded the programs and also has an exclusive worldwide licence to eventually commercialise the technology.

Sludge into bricks

The technology involves processing water-based sludges into non-polluting, high-strength building materials such as bricks and pavers.

Today, Synertec told shareholders one of the pilot programs was completed and was a success.

Synertec has earned $900,000 for the work completed in that project in the year to date. The project involved 6,000 tonnes of oil-contaminated drilling mud.

As for the other pilot program, the company said it was now at commercial scale having completed the testing phase.

It also revealed that Greentech’s oil waste-derived brick manufacturing operations had reached the final stage of approval from local environmental authorities.

The bricks were independently tested for compression strength and quality and again the results were positive.

Rounding out this morning’s news were hints that Synertec would go beyond China fairly soon.

The company reiterated it had engaged an Australian lawyer to review provisional patents with the goal of applying internationally.

It said the deal would help it begin with interested Australian organisations, particularly in the resources sector.

‘Potentially revolutionary and globally applicable’

Ordinarily, oil companies bury waste in landfill or just burn it.

A typical oil rig outputs 5,000 to 10,000 tons per annum – an amount far larger across the whole of China when you consider the scale of its industry.

The pilot program has come from China looking for better oil disposal solutions.

Synertec managing director Michael Carroll said the results showed his company could be onto something big.

“The trial results of the CDP pilot programs to data indicate that it is a potentially revolutionary and globally applicable solution to the significant environmental challenges presented by toxic drilling mud,” he said.

“We see opportunities to apply CDP not only to assist active drilling sites, but also to help remediate the millions of tonnes of drilling mud that have been created as a by-product of the past decade’s boom in shale energy development.

“This is not a solution in search of a problem – the problem is there in the ground today along with the political will for the remedy.”

Shares nearly doubled this morning and are up by over 50 per cent in 12 months.