| Lystek International, Inc. | |
| Type: | Privately held company |
| Industry: | Thermal hydrolysis Waste management |
| Foundation: | in Ontario, Canada |
| Founders: | Owen Ward Ajay Singh |
| Location City: | Ontario |
| Location Country: | Canada |
| Area Served: | North America |
| Key People: | Ajay Singh (Technical Director) Michael Beswick (Executive Vice President) |
| Products: | LysteGro LysteMize LysteCarb |
| Owners: | --> |
| Parent: | R. W. Tomlinson Ltd. |
Lystek International is a Canadian waste treatment technology company founded in 2000 at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada to commercialize treatment technologies for biosolids and other non-hazardous, organic waste materials. Lystek is headquartered in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada and is owned by its management and R.W. Tomlinson Ltd.[1]
Lystek's technology uses thermal hydrolysis involving high speed shearing, alkali addition and low temperature steam to produce biofertilizer.[2] [3] The product can be sold as a commercial biofertilizer called LysteGro or recycled to anaerobic digesters and biological nutrient removal (BNR) systems for optimization of the wastewater treatment plant operation.[4] The Lystek process condition disintegrates microbial cell wall/membranes and hydrolyzes complex macromolecules into simpler compounds.[5] Recycling up to 25% of the product to the digester increases biogas yields by greater than 30 % and enhances biodegradation, reducing output of biosolids by at least 20%.[6]
The Lystek system can be installed as a back end, post Anaerobic digestion, post dewatering solution at the wastewater treatment plant. It can also take raw sludge directly without an anaerobic digester process.[7] Alternatively, the system can be used in a regional processing hub to service multiple organic waste generators. The Lystek solution is modular and has a small footprint, making it flexible to deploy and easy to retrofit into existing facilities.[8]
As of 2015, there are five installations[9] of the Lystek technology in Ontario, and a sixth facility in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.[10] A seventh installation, (first in the U.S.) was planned to be commissioned and fully operational in Fairfield, California by the end of the first calendar quarter of 2016.[11]