Apr 30 2013
US Fuel Corporation,, announced today a joint venture with Renewed World Energies, Inc. (RWE), a majority owned subsidiary of Aventura Equities, Inc., to integrate RWE's patent pending Photo bioreactor into US Fuel's coal-to-liquid (CTL) plants planned for Muhlenberg County and Perry County, Kentucky.
US Fuel's focus is engineering a proprietary template for constructing facilities capable of converting 300 tons of coal into approximately 525 barrels of synthetic liquid fuel a day. This proprietary US Fuel CTL process will include the ability to capture the carbon dioxide produced by the CTL process. Once captured, the carbon dioxide will be put to use to grow algae using the RWE Photo bioreactor.
"Ensuring that our facilities are environmentally friendly is critical to our business plan. With this joint venture, US Fuel will ensure that nearly all of the carbon dioxide generated during the CTL process is put to a good use, rather than emitted," said Harry Bagot , US Fuel President and CEO.
RWE is an industry leader, having created the world's first commercially viable, fully automated closed algae system capable of manufacturing algae oil. The RWE system circulates the water, nutrients, and CO2 required to grow the algae through the tank and panels, with the entire process continuously monitored and the growth environment automatically adjusted to maximize output.
When the algae are ready to harvest, an automated process sends the algae through multiple screening processes for final delivery to an oil processing plant. Algae products range from synthetic bio-fuel, algae cake for livestock feed, to raw materials used in the pharmaceutical, natural food and cosmetics industries.
The growth and cultivation of algae not only draws greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and protects the environment, it will generate new revenue streams that serve to improve the bottom line profitability of US Fuel CTL operations.
According to Dr. Bruce R. Pratt , Director, Eastern Kentucky University Center for Renewable and Alternative Fuel Technologies ( EKU CRAFT ), "The process of growing algae and converting it to fuel is really just replicating what Mother Nature does in creating petroleum, except it does not take millions of years. Capturing the carbon dioxide from the CTL process reduces greenhouse gas emissions; using that carbon dioxide to create more fuel gives the process a double use for the gas."
As part of this joint venture, upon the commencement of construction of the first US Fuel CTL facility in Kentucky, RWE will locate its component manufacturing and spare parts distribution center in Kentucky, to co-locate with a planned US Fuel facility. The RWE system is designed for mass production, low cost, and easy assembly and will bring additional jobs to Kentucky while supporting the infrastructure for the new coal-to-liquids industry there.
"The RWE – US Fuel joint venture provides an opportunity for a truly large scale commercial application of our proven algae systems. We are excited about locating operations in Kentucky, creating local jobs as part of profitable algae operations and the opportunities to continue research and process improvement in coordination with institutions such as EKU CRAFT ," stated Richard Armstrong , President of RWE.