Powered by Paper and Plastics
Chris Anderson ’25 BS is CEO of a revolutionary new technology company that ncould be a game-changer for the environment.
— By Rebecca Tavernini MA '11
Just as the Sherpas of Nepal guide and support explorers to the peak of Mount Everest, the Sherpa Initiative between Northern Michigan University and Michigan Technological University is helping students reach great heights. For NMU entrepreneurship major Chris Anderson ’25 BS, that means becoming the CEO of a revolutionary new technology company that could be a game-changer for the environment.
His company, Revesys Energy, turns often rejected and difficult-to-recycle paper and plastics into clean-burning, high-energy fuel pellets to replace coal. Coal is still used by industries such as cement and steel and in industrial boilers that require energy-intensive power. This new process could also replace burning tires for fuel (unbelievably still a thing), which is expected to be banned by upcoming legislation.
“What really attracted me to entrepreneurship is that I want to solve problems," said Anderson. “Creating a product or filling a need is something for sure, but being able to reduce landfill usage, and then also reduce emissions from carbon-intense fuels are two huge problems, and this solution fills that need.”
Anderson explains that he didn’t come up with the technology—it was invented at Michigan Tech—but he learned about it through the Sherpa program. “It was one of the technologies that nobody wanted to work with in the class,” he said, “so I decided to license it from them and form my own business and try to get this commercialized. I can’t even express how thankfulI am that NMU and Tech gave me this opportunity.”
He’s hoping to become a large supplier to different industries that rely on solid fuel, and he plans on making his headquarters in Michigan, close to large areas of waste generation, such as Grand Rapids or Detroit. “I’m trying to create an ecosystem where I’m very close to not only the supplier of those plastics, but also the end users, so we’re mitigating a lot of emissions that would be created during transportation.” He envisions a facility that would be able to recycle 150,000 tons (30 million pounds) of waste into 100,000 tons of fuel each year.
Anderson also hopes to create smaller, modular facilities to allow rural areas to be more energy independent and turn plastics into power. So how does one burn plastics without creating harmful fumes? Torrefaction. This means “to dry roast by fire.”
He explains: “So through the process, which we have patented, we shred up our materials to smaller than three millimeters in size, and then we put it in a tube and push that through to torrefaction, which is basically heating all these materials up in an oxygenstarved environment which doesn’t allow gasses to be released in the environment. And then the black, sludgy material is pressurized and cools into a solid; the hotter it gets, the more pressurized it is. It removes different chemicals such as chlorine. Then once all those off-gasses or materials that you don’t want are removed, the extruder cuts the pellet to whatever size the end-user requires. When it burns, most of the harmful chemicals have already been removed.”
This process is powered by natural gas and electricity. Any organic materials that might be burned off can be captured and used as additional fuel. Once it is turned into the pellet, it’s very inexpensive and easy to transport, and is shelf-stable and moisture-resistant.
The engineered fuel pellets are composed of approximately 60 percent recovered paper fiber and 40 percent recovered plastics. The technology promises to reduce greenhouse gasses by 40 percent.
Revesys Energy isn’t the only business looking to overhaul energy generation.
“It’s a very new and very saturated field. There are a lot of people trying to create alternative fuel pellets, like solid fuels, but none with the technology that we have. Thankfully, I know we have a superior product to whatever competition is out there. It’s a very new market and a niche market where, once it starts to become adopted, I think it’ll start to be more widespread. But right now, there’s a lot of people with different technologies, trying different things.”
So how does a non-engineer build the confidence to create a business outside of one’s realm of experience?
“It’s just reading as much as you can about the technology and asking questions, because there’s no dumb questions when you’re trying to figure out something new,” he said. “Diving into things I didn’t know has really helped me withconfidence and you realize you can learn about whatever you really want to. Learning how to do market research and how to apply that is a really big thing in working with new technologies. I also rely on a wonderful, diverse board of directors.”
Anderson stressed that “basically all my professors at Northern have played a role in how I’ve developed. I came to school thinking I wasn’t good at writing, but they made it fun and encouraged me. The same with public speaking.
“In Corinne Bodeman’s Intro to Entrepreneurship class we had a chance to start a business with whatever product your group wants. Our company was called Snackage, so we made small care packages for families to send to their college students, with a personalized note.
“Dr. Crum has helped me so much on the finance side of entrepreneurship by figuring out how to make a pro formaand appreciate the process. In a strategic management class, we had a simulation where you are basically running a company with five products, and you deal with finances, marketing, production, and distribution and try to make the right decisions so your group keeps the market share.
“This place has allowed me to experiment and see what I want to do in life. I was sports editor for The North Wind, fixed computers at the Help Desk and got to do research with engineers at Tech…. It all helped solidify that, yeah, this is it, I love doing this. NMU has really helped me think outside of the box and everyone has been so supportive.”
Anderson has also had the support of accelerator and commercialization programs, including Great Lakes I-Corps; Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Program (AMMP) Accelerator; Innovate Marquette; MTEC SmartZone; and more than $2.6 million in pre-commercialization grant funding.
When he came to NMU at age 25, feeling he was stuck in a loop in Racine, Wisconsin, he had hopes of being a general manager of an NBA franchise and applied to the exercise science program. But when he realized all of the medical and more than $2.6 million in pre-commercialization grant funding.
When he came to NMU at age 25, feeling he was stuck in a loop in Racine, Wisconsin, he had hopes of being a general manager of an NBA franchise and applied to the exercise science program. But when he realized all of the medical classes involved, he turned to business and noticed the entrepreneurial track.
“I was a little bit skeptical, because my previous knowledge was none. I thought, if you’re an entrepreneur,nyou’re an entrepreneur, and if you’re not, you’re not. But this degree track definitely changed my mind. You can learn how to be an entrepreneur, and there are pathways and support systems that will help you do that.”
At the moment, Anderson is building a team of about five people in the next year to get a pilot facility up and running in five years, where does he see himself?
“That’s a very good question with how much my life has changed in the last five years. I have no idea. This is the best place that I could have come to change my life. Hopefully I’m on my second or third company. And eventually, if I have enough money, own an NBA franchise, hopefully!”
In the meantime, he and his partner, Lindsay, who has an NMU cosmetology degree and has returned to study accounting, are expecting a daughter, which Chris couldn’t be more excited about.
The clean sky is the limit.
