Clean-tech industrial oil re-refining group Hydrodec Group plc has confirmed that, following a commissioning process, the rebuilt and expanded plant in Canton, Ohio is now ready for production. Subject to final instrument tuning, the plant is now expected to commence production this week. Expansion 'trains' 1 and 2 have been the immediate focus and will be the first into full operation; the commissioning process has enabled mechanical completion and testing of the replacement 'trains' 3 to 6. These will be started sequentially once production from 'trains' 1 & 2 has been fully established.

First sales of base oil are expected shortly after production starts, with transformer oil sales following after detailed testing and certification, three to four weeks later. The company stated that orders for the newly commissioned capacity at Canton are very encouraging both for base oil and transformer oil. Hydrodec of North America expects to broaden its sales to a variety of new customers as well as re-initiate supply to most of its core customer base within a few months of start-up. Hydrodec's transformer oil will be the first oil product in the market to generate a carbon credit which can be traded as a voluntary carbon offset in the US.

Commenting on this, Ian Smale, Chief Executive of Hydrodec said "The commissioning of Canton is very important for Hydrodec; bringing the new plant online has progressed carefully to fully enable the additional operational and safety features designed into this upgrade and which we are confident will deliver at least 10% greater efficiency than the name plate capacity of the original equipment. Our new plant will be safer, easier to maintain and we are confident can produce 40 million litres per annum of the best quality transformer oil available in the US."