The Tough Tech problem we are solving
The United States has roughly 2 billion tons of coal ash sitting in more than 700 ponds and landfills, waste left over from decades of coal power generation. Utilities are on the hook to close these sites, at a cost that can run up to $1 billion per site, with no way to recover value from the material itself. Yet that same ash contains enough rare earth elements to meet U.S. demand for centuries, elements the country currently imports because there is no way to extract them from this particular source at scale. The waste stream and the mineral shortage are, in effect, the same problem.
About our solution
AshGen runs coal fly ash through a five-stage process, from offtake and AI-driven feed analysis to selective extraction and silica-alumina processing, ending in what AshGen calls zero residual waste. The process yields three product lines: critical minerals and rare earth elements for U.S. supply chains, high-performance zeolites for industrial use, and a supplementary cementitious material that meets ASTM standards and lowers the carbon footprint of cement production. Because the process leaves no residual waste, it also functions as a permanent disposal solution for the ash ponds it draws from. The result is a single process that turns a liability utilities pay to close into three usable products.