The company said the broad-based business initiatives agreement allowed L&L to partner with WanYuan to assist in the latter’s growth via access to the China Low-Carbon Industry Investment Centre as well as western-style management and fund-raising from Chinese banks and international sources.

WanYuan, a Chinese-headquartered sewage treatment company with a processing capacity of about 200,000 short tons per day, is seeking to increase capacity to 500,000tpd.

L&L put an early emphasis on coal washing, which reduced sulphur and other emissions in the regions it operated in, CEO Dickson Lee said, which lent well to the new partnership.

“We look forward to applying those same principles with the CLCIIC project and WanYuan,” he said.

“As China continues to put more emphasis on clean energy and renewables, we believe WanYuan's model for leveraging China's need for renewable sewage facilities will be an attractive opportunity for us and our partners moving forward.”

WanYuan CEO Haichao Wang called the China-focused producer a “perfect partner” as it expanded beyond environmental remediation and into cleaner energy sources.

“L&L's business relationships and US expertise will enable both companies to capitalise on exciting new market opportunities,” he said.