Can We Work With Your Material?

Every day, facilities come to us with a material they’ve been told is “unprocessable” — too wet, too fibrous, too weird. Sometimes that’s true. Often, it isn’t. The fastest way to know is to look at how your material behaves, and stack it up against what we’ve already proven, what we’re actively testing, and what we know doesn’t work.

Shockwave uses combined drying and milling to do something most systems can’t: create real separation — fiber, fat, mineral, protein, carbohydrate, ash — out of materials that would otherwise be landfilled, land-applied, or stuck as a disposal cost. If your material has structure, dry matter, or fiber to homogenize against, there’s a good chance we can help.

The Quick Answer: It Comes Down to Moisture and Homogenization

The single biggest factor in whether we can run your material is whether it can homogenize with dry matter. Muddy, high-moisture products with no fiber and no dry-matter backbone are the hardest cases. Everything else — even genuinely difficult streams like algae, stillage, or biosolids — is usually a matter of finding the right blend ratio, not a hard no.

Want the full breakdown, with the reasoning behind each category? See our Input Compatibility Guide for the complete list and the “why” behind every rating.

Don’t See Your Material Listed?

That’s normal — this list reflects what we’ve already run or tested, not the limits of what’s possible. Materials get reclassified constantly as we run new trials. If your material isn’t here, it’s not a “no” — it’s a “let’s find out.”

Here’s How to Find Out for Sure

The list above is a starting point, not a substitute for looking at your actual material. Moisture content, fiber structure, particle size, and your throughput goals all matter — and the only reliable way to answer “will this work?” is to have a conversation with our team.

Reach out and tell us about your material. We’ll walk through your waste stream, your goals, and whether a bench trial or feasibility review makes sense before you commit to any volume.