Alucha | About Us

We apply and develop state of the art technology

We developed a world premiere installation, now with over 15,000 hours of operational excellence

We can supply proven and certifiable environmental benefits for your products

We can supply samples and feasibility studies fit for your purpose

Our technology

Alucha has developed a technology to treat industrial waste streams like paper mill sludge (PMS), sewage sludge and other industrial wastes.

We can separate the inorganic and organic fractions of waste streams. From PMS we recover the filler content from the waste stream. This can save considerable amounts of CO₂ equivalent compared to current disposal methods, and the process contributes to the circular economy too.

With the process, the organic part of the waste stream (paper fibres) is converted mainly into bio-based oils. The inorganic part of the waste stream is separated and recovered as a product.

The mineral recovered from paper mill sludge (Circular Calcium Carbonate, CCC) can be used again as a filler in various industries like plastics, paints & coatings, and rubber.

The bio-based oils can be used as an energy source for the paper mill or possibly as a feedstock for bio-based chemicals.

Our roadmap

Alucha aims to open its first CCC production mine next year

2023 Mine1: Small scale production (60kg/h of CCC)

Test runs with pilot facility to further test technology and produce CCC sample volumes for our CCC customers

2025 Mine2: Increase production (13kt/y of CCC)

Start of production world’s first CCC mine

>2026 Roll out

Rollout and commissioning of CCC mines worldwide

Our company

Alucha was launched in Barcelona (Spain) in 2004. It had its beginnings at the Barcelona Campus of the IESE Business School, where it started with a business plan to develop and commercialise innovative solutions for complex waste streams. Our first project was developed from scratch in cooperation with StoraEnso Barcelona. In 2010, the world’s first industrial installation was started up to recycle plastic-aluminium laminate waste originating from the recycling of used beverage cartons. This project received funding through the EU LIFE Programme. In 2014, the company moved to the Netherlands so that we could focus on the development of our paper mill sludge solution. Here we linked up with our partner Essity to develop the technology further.

Alucha’s achievements over the years has captured the attention of the media on numerous occasions and won it several awards. We are especially proud to have won the European Commission’s highly prestigious “Best of the Best” LIFE Award for environmental projects, and of the special certificate of recognition we received together with SCA at the 2015 European Paper Recycling Awards for our ongoing development of a paper mill sludge recycling solution.

We were selected in 2018 to participate in the Stora Enso Startup Accelerator and are very proud to have won AkzoNobel’s Paint the Future award of in the circular solutions category in 2019.

Our team

Gijs Jansen is the driver of the company. After receiving his Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Delft University of Technology and putting in a couple of years of engineering at Fluor, Gijs went on to get his MBA at IESE in Barcelona. Gijs is founder and CEO of the company.

Anton Bijl is Technology Lead at Alucha. With his technical expertise and environmental focus he leads the development of the technology in the company. Anton holds an MSc in Thermal Engineering from the University of Twente, where he specialised in environmental technology.

Eyerusalem Gucho (process engineer) is responsible for our laboratory works, studies, testing and product quality. Joining Alucha in 2017, Eyerusalem holds an MSc in Sustainable Energy Technology from the University of Twente, where she specialised in biomass energy conversion technologies.

Songbo He joined Alucha as an R&D engineer in 2022. He holds two PhD diplomas in Chemical Engineering and has been developing chemocatalytic recycling technologies since. He focuses on the development of catalytic vapor upgrading technology to produce drop-in chemicals from post-consumer paper sludge. Songbo brings to Alucha his technical expertise and extensive experience in participating in international projects.

Joost Raimond is a highly experienced project and construction manager. He holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and previously worked as project and construction manager for engineering firm Fluor. He then moved to start-up companies, for example as COO construction director of BlackBear Carbon, a pioneering tire recycling start-up. Joost started his work for Alucha in 2022. He will oversee the realization of the demonstration plant Mine2.

Jeroen Quaegebeur supports Alucha in business development and growth financing. With a background in private-equity and a focus on sustainability and impact, he is committed to apply his know-how and experience to support the circular scale-up potential of Alucha.

Theo Janssen is a highly experienced senior engineer with extensive and worldwide experience in process, construction & commissioning work on many thermal energy-based projects.

Rob Philipsen joined Alucha in 2024 as a Production Engineer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in applied sciences and has relevant working experience in the paper and process industry. Rob’s primary task is to enhance the productivity, efficiency, and quality of processes of the current Mine1 and future Mine2 installations.

Stephan Sneijders joined Alucha as R&D Engineer in the beginning of 2024. With his background in chemical engineering and computational fluid dynamics he focusses on process design and the development of advanced process models. Additionally, he is responsible for the collection and analysis of data from our pilot plant in order to gain a better understanding of the process.

Mike Verdaasdonk joined Alucha in 2024 as maintenance operator. Mike is the handyman on our pilot plant Mine1. With his background as mechanic and following electrical training, he will be able to solve any problem in the plant.

Our team is often supported by various student interns from different educational institutes such as the HAN, University of Twente or the Erasmus program.

Careers

Considering a career with Alucha?

We are always interested in highly motivated and skilled engineering professionals and project managers, especially those who have experience in pyrolysis and/or gasification processes and who are willing to work abroad.

Please contact us and send us your CV and cover letter.