Silverado Takes Green Fuel To The Next Step
By Brian Truscott
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
(c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
VANCOUVER (Dow Jones)--Coal and the idea of going "green" usually don't collide in the same thought pattern, but Silverado Gold Mines Ltd.'s (SLGLF) Green Fuel Inc. is on the verge of changing that preconception.
"Our Green Fuel will be part of the 'New Energy' paradigm in the U.S.," said Green Fuel President Garry Anselmo.
The company recently turned sod on a US$26 million "demonstration" facility in Mississippi - a plant that will use the state's supply of low-rank coal reserves to create Green Fuel, which Anselmo said would be a coal-based, environmentally friendly, low-cost, alternative fuel.
Anselmo said the company is now in the process of getting the permits and finalizing plans for the design of the building.
"We have also begun the process of tearing down our mothballed 300-ton-per-day gold mill" in Fairbanks, Alaska, he said. The plant will be transported and reconstructed on the new site, fulfilling about US $6 million of the project's fund request, if only because of the current cost of steel, he said.
"So in about 18 months or so, (the facility) will be processing approximately 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per year," he said. "The purpose...is not so much for production as it is for demonstration, to capture the scale of the design parameters to build a commercial facility."
Basically, low-rank, or lignitic and brown, coal will be pulverized and hydrothermally treated to dehydrate the coal particle, which when sealed won't allow water back in, but will, at the same time, possess more energy.
The water - once cleansed of various heavy metals and carbon dioxide - is mixed back with those dehydrated particles to form Green Fuel.
"It looks like oil, feels like oil and ships like oil," he said. "This material is non-toxic, non-hazardous and non-flammable."
He said it's also environmentally friendly, low-cost energy.
Government Keen To Push Project Forward
"As a liquid fuel, it's strategic and an answer to America's dependence on foreign oil," he said. "There's enough coal in the U.S. to meet its energy needs for the next 300 years."
Given the current political appetite for alternative fuel, the Mississippi government has already put up US$2 million to clear ground and gift it to the company. The state is also building the facility.
"We're actively pursuing federal appropriations and federal grants from the Department of Energy and Defence," he said. "We want government on side, lock, stock and barrel."
Anselmo said Silverado will start making plans for a commercial building about 12 months into the upcoming demonstration process. He said the size of the commercially producing plant isn't yet known, but the smallest size would be producing 4.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per year.
In this case, it takes 2.5 barrels of Green Fuel to create the same energy as one barrel of oil. However, the cost of creating 2.5 barrels of Green Fuel will be just US$15, Anselmo said.
"The project doesn't just stop at the creation of the fuel; if you take our fuel right out of the plant at 200 degrees centigrade and treat it...you've got the feedstock to make rocket fuel, jet fuel,
diesel...but without creating greenhouse gases," he said.
Company Web Site: http://www.silveradogreenfuel.com
-Brian Truscott, Dow Jones Newswires |
Thread abonnieren
