Buying and Selling Power Plants

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Subject: UFTO Note — Buying and Selling Power Plants
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 10:22:28 -0800
From: Ed Beardsworth

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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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Buying and Selling Generation Assets – Conference April 14-15, 1997, New York

As a result of ongoing restructuring of the U.S. Power industry, transfers of generating assets are occurring at an unprecedented scale, and have really only just begun, representing a huge and critical opportunity for industry players to buy/sell/spin-off assets to meets goals, whether for growth, portfolio rebalancing, or entry or exit from the market. Regulated utilities in particular are becoming participants in both small project sales and large portfolio transactions. Yet there are endless issues to be considered, from estimating current asset values and future market conditions, to clarifying regulatory and balance sheet implications, to arranging financing, and managing environmental and other risks.

The conference is being organized by Infocast, Inc, together with Jeffrey C. Bodington, President, Bodington & Co., and will include 2 days of presentations by experts from Industry, Wall Street and Washington, who will outline the critical issues involved. Case studies will serve as examples, providing do’s and don’ts of deal negotiation.

For more information, or copies of the Conference brochure, contact:
Jeff Bodington, Bodington & Co., 415-391-3280, or
Stephanie Thomas, Infocast, 818-902-5400

(Bodington & Co. provides investment banking, consulting services, and management and financial counsel to electricity generators involved in the sale or purchase of power plants.)

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Managing Environmental Liabilities as Buyer or Seller of Generation Assets

Buyers and Sellers need to manage the Environmental risks which often play a big role in these transactions, affecting sale price and contract terms such as indemnification for future liabilities. For a given facility, the risks may or may not be well characterized, creating an unknown in the equation.

Currently, it appears that a Seller’s market exists for generating facilities. Some buyers are anxious to close the deal. They know they can’t be too concerned with trying to negotiate down the price, and don’t want to look too closely at any discouraging news about what they’re buying, such environmental risks. (More accurately, the people working for the buyer companies can have career incentives to close the deal, and don’t want to slow things down for problems that will only become apparent long after.) Clearly, this could have unfortunate consequences for the Buyer, and also for the Seller, who will still be responsible as the prior owner.

Selling utilities may want, or find themselves forced, to be very upfront about such liabilities. Detailed environmental and regulatory risk assessments can be performed on behalf of either side, and a comprehensive strategy can and should be developed (particularly for companies doing large scale divestiture of many facilities).
For more information, contact UFTO.

Bellcore Flywheel Forum

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Subject: UFTO Note – Bellcore Flywheel Forum
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 10:06:41 -0800
From: Ed Beardsworth

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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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Attached is a draft proposal received this morning from Bellcore for its Technical Forum on Flywheel Requirements. (See earlier UFTO note Jan 28).

Additional details would be provided in the final, if and when outside organizations express serious interest in participating. Their present understanding is that the funding fee will be $50K per participant. It would probably be OK for several organizations to join as a “team”, entitled to one collective vote in any “standards forum”.

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Bellcore Technical Forum Flywheel Energy Storage System Specification Work Proposal for Initial Generic Requirements

Short-duration backup power for telecommunications systems has traditionally been provided by lead-acid or Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) batteries. These batteries are susceptible to temperature, and can potentially cause disasters (service outages plus significant damage to equipment and personnel) under certain circumstances. A new energy storage technology that can eliminate most of the problems associated with batteries are Flywheel Energy Storage Systems (FESS) or electromechanical energy storage. However, this technology is in its infancy, and no requirements or standards on their performance, safety, installation, deployment, and use exist.

In addition, no guidelines or experience exists vis a vis its long-duration (20 years) in below-ground deployment. The Project described by this Proposal has as its goal the generation of an initial set of proposed incremental Generic Requirements (GR) to allow a FESS to operate and be integrated into the telephony outside plant network as a replacement for the conventional electrochemical (VRLA) batteries. The FESS will supply backup power to a communications load within the network. It may be installed at a remote site such as in the vicinity of a Controlled Environmental Vault (CEV), Electronic Equipment Enclosure (EEE), or pedestal in the outside plant environment, ranging in nominal sizes from 10 W to 10 kW, and capable of providing between 1 to 8 hours of reserve; i.e. reserve capacity possibly ranging from 10 Wh to 80 kWh.

The FESS is intended to be used as a direct battery replacement and needs to be “maintenance-free” with a life of at least 20 years in the harsh outside plant environment. In addition, the FESS is expected to be buried below ground besides CEVs, EEEs, and pedestals, and minimal construction, concrete or masonry work, is desirable at these sites. The units need to be efficient, reliable, and immune to environmental conditions of the outside plant. Modular sub-systems are desirable as they facilitate maintenance, are field replaceable, and provide graceful growth. At a minimum the GR should address the following:

– Safety – below-ground deployment, maintenance, testing, and use
– Performance and reliability – system, device, component
– Installation – emphasis on below-ground procedures
– Maintenance – routine and corrective
– Graceful planning – methods to support graceful growth.

The primary deliverable will be generic requirements document entitled Generic Requirements for Flywheel Energy Storage Systems for Telecommunications Applications, to be completed in December 1997. Successful completion of this Project should be viewed as a springboard for future work items which are not included in the scope of this Proposal. Bellcore currently has a 5 kWh above-ground FESS which is operational at its Chester, New Jersey Research and Engineering Center. A 100 Wh above-ground FESS will soon become operational.

During 1997 Bellcore hopes to install at least one other FESS, below-ground, at its Chester Lab. Experiences gained with these operating systems will provide valuable information regarding heat dissipation, reliability, maintenance, special problems, and other areas that relate to the suitability for telecommunications deployment. In addition, during 1997 Bellcore will compile information on FESS technology as it relates to telecommunications applications, focusing on below-ground installations and covering the following areas:

– Size and shape comparisons with batteries
– Heat dissipation
– Placement
– Installation and deployment
– Maintenance requirements
– Monitoring and alarms
-Integration into the power train of broadband power nodes and sites
– Economics
– Pricing and availability
– Accelerated life testing
– Reliability and mean time to failure (MTTF)

Lessons learned from this work will help generate the generic requirements for below-ground FESSs. This Project will also consider requirements extrapolated from existing relevant Bellcore documents, such as TR-NWT-000766, Generic Requirements for Valve Regulated Lead Acid Batteries [Issue 1, October 1, 1991]. Bellcore convened a symposium on the subject of employing FESS in telecommunications in July 1995 in San Diego, and held a safety forum on FESS on November 15, 1995 at Bellcore’s facility in Chester, New Jersey.

A major objective was to discuss the need for the FESS alternative, as well as the new Generic Requirements process, and the opportunity for direct industry funding and participation. Wherever feasible, relevant specifications of outside standards organizations will serve as references. However, it is anticipated that exclusive reliance on standards groups and other industry forums would result in procedures that would take longer to achieve than the accelerated 9-month time-frame planned for this project.

This time-frame depends upon the cooperation of all funding participants in the work of the Bellcore Technical Forum (BTF) and related process under which the requirements work is to be performed and involves variables which are not within Bellcore’s control. However, although Bellcore does not guarantee completion within the time frame, it is Bellcore’s objective to complete the requirements in question within that time frame and funding participants under this Proposal agree to cooperate in achieving that objective.

——- Bellcore reserves the right to withdraw this Proposal and to terminate its efforts with respect to the anticipated generic requirements, without incurring any liability to anyone, should there be in its opinion insufficient industry interest in funding participation in this Proposal and the related Bellcore Technical Forum efforts.

Update — DOE Task Force on Electric Reliability; new EIA report

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Subject: UFTO Note: Update — DOE Task Force on Electric Reliability; new EIA report
Date: Fri, 07 Feb 1997 13:00:12 -0800
From: Ed Beardsworth <edbeards@ufto.com>

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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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Update — DOE Task Force on Electric Reliability; new EIA report

The minutes of the January 16 meeting should be made available soon, pending final OK by the task force chairman, Phil Sharp. They will be available on-line–I’ll let you know as soon as I hear from DOE.

Meanwhile, DOE staff are preparing some briefing papers for the Task Force members, and also plan to provide them with copies of a new report from the Energy Information Administration:

“The Changing Structure of the Electric Power Industry: An Update”, DOE/EIA-0562 (96), provides a good summary of the issues at stake and a history of the electric power industry.

It is available through the EIA at (202) 586-8800 (free to “energy producers”, but not to consultants!) or on their web site (http:// www.eia.doe.gov). You can download the complete report (2.5 MB in pdf-Acrobat format), and a summary is available at:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/pub_summaries/eu_stru1_sum/contents.html#N_1_

Here are the first couple of paragraphs of that summary:

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The Changing Structure of the Electric Power Industry: An Update

Electric utilities(1)–one of the largest remaining regulated industries in the United States–are in the process of transition to a competitive market. Traditionally vertically integrated,(2) the industry will in all probability be segmented at least functionally into its three component parts: generation, transmission, and distribution. The proposals and issues are being addressed in Federal and State legislation and are being debated in State regulatory hearings. (View a discription of utilities and nonutilities in the current market structure.)

Change is occurring through the issuance by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) of Orders 888 and 889 (dated April 24, 1996) to encourage wholesale competition. Order 888 addresses the issues of open access to the transmission network and stranded costs. Order 889 requires utilities to establish electronic systems to share information about available transmission capacity. In addition, as of June 30, 1996, 44 States and the District of Columbia (more than 88 percent of the Nation’s regulatory commissions) have started activities related to retail competition in one form or another.(3) Issues such as recovery of stranded costs, divestiture of transmission assets, increased mergers, renewable energy incentives, energy efficiency investments, reliability, and the timing of retail competition are critical due to the degree of importance electricity holds in this country’s economic and social well-being. Legislative proposals on electric power restructuring have been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

Request for Comments on NIST Plan

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Subject: UFTO – Request for Comments on NIST Plan
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 12:23:16 -0800
From: Ed Beardsworth

Gerry FitzPatrick called today, and says he’d appreciate any feedback or comments on the NIST Plan that many of you have seen. They have a review meeting coming up soon, and industry input would be very helpful to them. It’s also an opportunity to influence what they’re working on, and to forge stronger links with the program there at NIST.

Repeated below is the note about this from last November. I’m sure Jerry would be happy to rush you a copy of the plan, if you don’t have one.

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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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Subject: UFTO Note — NIST Strategic Plan
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 10:42:35 -0800
From: Ed Beardsworth

NIST Strategic Plan for Electric Power Industry

The Electrical Systems Group at NIST has prepared a Draft “Strategic Plan For Measurement Support for the U.S. Electric-Power Industry,” July 31, 1996. It is an attempt to identify the highest priority technical needs of the industry during these times of dramatic change, and particularly where NIST can make a significant contribution.

Based on a comprehensive review of needs in areas of power system efficiency and reliability, environmental protection and power quality, the report focuses on implications for NIST. It may prove a useful benchmark for your own technology needs identification purposes. More immediately, however, NIST is anxious to have a greater degree of input, review and comment from the industry, and will happily send you a copy. You can relay your request through UFTO, or directly to:

James K. Olthoff, 301-975-2431 james.olthoff@nist.gov or
Jerry Fitzpatrick, 301-975-2737 fitzpatrick@nist.gov

Bellcore Developing Specs for Flywheel Batteries for Use in Telecomm

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Subject: UFTO Note – Bellcore Developing Specs for Flywheel Batteries for Use in Telecomm
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 12:33:55 -0800
From: Ed Beardsworth <edbeards@ufto.com>

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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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Bellcore Developing Specs for Flywheel Batteries for Use in Telecomm

Bellcore (now owned by SAIC, but still representing the technical needs of the RBOCs) is developing what they call “generic requirements” for flywheel batteries to meet growing needs for extremely reliable back up power on the telecomm system. The key goals are high reliability, low maintenance and long life in what they call “outside plant batteries,” which support equipment in remote locations. Systems would range from 0.1 to 5 kWh, over several hours (i.e. relatively low power). Their view is that they have an existing need that provides a good first application and sizable first market. Their leadership could prove useful to the overall development of flywheel batteries, which may take on a much larger role in storage, power quality and uninterruptible power applications, where utilities have a strong interest.

They are inviting outside parties to participate with them in this process, as outlined in the announcement attached below. The cost schedule hasn’t been determined as yet.

Bellcore has had very little contact with utilities thus far, but they would like to, particularly to take into account issues of seismic effects. (Only one utility was represented at the safety forum in November 1995. Incidentally, the documentation of that meeting is available from Bellcore for a fee of $200.)

_______________________________________________________
INVITATION TO FUND AND PARTICIPATE
BELLCORE GENERIC REQUIREMENTS TO SUPPORT FLYWHEEL ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS (FESS) (NEW GR)

Bellcore has been active in the potential use of Flywheel Energy Storage Systems (FESS) in telecommunications for over three years. This was motivated by our involvement in dealing with the many problems associated with valve-regulated lead-acid batteries in the telecommunications outside plant environment. Bellcore envisions FESSs as eventually replacing those batteries in that environment and perhaps many other applications.

Bellcore convened a symposium on the subject of employing FESS in telecommunications in July 1995 in San Diego, and held a safety forum on FESS on November 15, 1995 at Bellcore’s facility in Chester, New Jersey. Bellcore has an experimental FESS test facility in Chester and has an operating 5kwh system and some smaller FESSs operating experimentally. Bellcore conducted a basic materials investigation in 1996 that consisted of iterative computer modeling and testing of the impact of carbon composites into steel containment targets. This has led to a three-dimensional finite element model that enables us to identify generic design requirements for containment regimes.

Bellcore now invites all interested members of the flywheel energy storage system industry and local exchange and interexchange carriers, and any other members of the telecommunications industry to fund and participate in the development of a new generic requirements document to specify functionality and operability requirements for FESSs in telecommunications applications.

Bellcore proposes to convene a Bellcore Technical Forum (BTF) for funders to address development of a new Bellcore GR covering proposed requirements for FESS applications. The BTF would consist of one or more meetings to:

– Scope out the issues associated with FESS functionality in telecommunications, as well as operational issues, such as Network Equipment Building Standards (NEBS), Lightning and Earthquake concerns, power concerns, and physical design. – Develop a schedule for funders’ participation in development of a draft GR – Determine if additional Industry input will be necessary – Produce and publish a Bellcore GR on FESS in Telecommunications.

It is expected that the development of the GR will take most of 1997 to complete.

Funders will have the opportunity to provide nonproprietary input into the technical descriptions of the material, to comment on all draft text, to receive the GR and Issues List Reports(ILRs), if any are funded, pertaining to this release of the GR, and to exercise other rights and undertake responsibilities as provided by the applicable funding agreements with Bellcore and by law. Interactions beyond any meetings with funders may be via letters, conference calls, faxes or electronic mail.

It should be noted that Bellcore does not make procurement decisions for any Bellcore client company. Bellcore activities that involve industry interactions in no way indicate a potential purchase or selection decision by any Bellcore client company.

Bellcore reserves the right to alter or withdraw this proposal if there is insufficient interest in this invitation.

If your company is interested in funding and participating in the development of these proposed Bellcore Generic Requirements, please contact Bellcore by March 31, 1997:

Lawrence M. Slavin Bellcore 445 South Street, MCC 1C-117B Morristown, NJ 07960
201-829-4330 201-829-5886 (FAX) lslavin@notes.cc.bellcore.com

Followup on SC CO2/concrete

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Subject: UFTO-followup on sc CO2/concrete
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 09:51:49 -0800
From: Ed Beardsworth

Here’s the Los Alamos Press release, issued today (it was delayed a week). The web site for Materials Technology Ltd. I gave in my earlier note had a typo — the correct address is http://www.mtlstech.com (I left out the ‘s’)

Suggest you get the Nov 96 Sci American article, also avail. online at http://www.sciam.com/1196issue/1196techbus1.html

When someone’s ready, I recommend a call to Roger Jones, the principal at Materials Tech… he’s great to talk to. Keep me posted!
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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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Los Alamos paves the way for better cement

Laboratory researchers are developing an environmentally friendly process that hardens cement and creates a new class of strong and lightweight building and fabrication materials.

The Laboratory process transforms common portland or lime cemented materials and clays by treatment with carbon dioxide under high pressure, making them chemically stable, nearly impermeable and stronger. The process also makes inexpensive building products out of waste materials, including fly ash from coal-burning power plants, alum sludge from water treatment plants and blast furnace slag. Treated cement also may improve the safe storage of radioactive waste.

The process, patented by Roger Jones Jr. of Materials Technology Limited of Reno, Nev., may lead to new building materials, consumer goods, auto parts and other products. According to Jones, the process creates recyclable materials that will be competitive with certain metals, plastics and wood products.

Under increasing pressure and temperature, carbon dioxide gas first reaches a liquid phase, then enters a region called “supercritical” where it has useful properties of both gas and liquid. Supercritical carbon dioxide expands to fill its container and diffuses into the tiniest pores like a gas. On the other hand, because supercritical carbon dioxide has a high density like a liquid, it can dissolve substances and carry them. In this case, it grabs water molecules and pulls them out of the cement.

Chemically, the process converts the hydroxide of cement to a carbonate, with water as the byproduct. This chemical reaction occurs naturally, too, but may take thousands of years.

“The cement in the Great Wall of China has not yet reached a chemically neutral state,” said Craig Taylor, principal investigator for the Labortory’s Supercritical Fluids Development Center in Organic Chemistry (CST-12). “But the supercritical carbon dioxide treatment achieves the chemically stable condition in minutes or hours. It’s not really cement anymore, but a whole new material. It is really pourable limestone.”

Taylor demonstrates the effect of supercritical carbon dioxide with two chunks of bonded fly ash, a waste product from coal-burning power plants. Set in a pan of water, the untreated sample quickly crumbles and dissolves, obviously useless as a building material. The treated sample, however, remains impervious to the water. Treated fly ash could make a strong, lightweight and economically attractive material for wall board, flooring and other construction products.

Large-scale use of supercritical carbon dioxide is not new to industry. For example, commercial operations have applied the same technology for years to make vegetable oils and to decaffeinate coffee. So Taylor does not foresee difficulties treating large volumes of cement blocks or massive columns and slabs. Even the U.S. Air Force has expressed interest in the technology — for building high-strength concrete slabs for runways.

Using supercritical carbon dioxide through a high pressure nozzle, large surfaces of existing concrete structures might be hardened and sealed against penetration of chemicals, improving wear-resistance and durability. The treated surfaces will resist chipping or scaling because the transition from the thin, very hard exterior to normal strength interior concrete would be gradual.

Large amounts of carbon dioxide produced by coal and oil burning power plants and by gasoline burning cars are blamed in part for a trend toward global warming, called the greenhouse effect. But the cement treatment process, by permanently removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locking it into building products, actually helps reduce the impact of coal and petrochemical use. (Total curing of 2.2 pounds of cement permanently removes about 25 gallons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.) Research is under way to use both the fly ash and carbon dioxide expelled by coal-burning plants to produce construction materials.

“Like living coral, now we can take carbon dioxide out of the environment and build our houses with it. The process is good for ourselves and good for the environment,” said Taylor.

The Lab’s continuing role in development of the improved cement will be to optimize treatment conditions and help design a treatment facility. And researchers see a major new area of materials science to pursue.

“It’s a new bulk material not well characterized,” said Taylor. “Materials scientists will be busy with this for decades.”

Since supercritical carbon dioxide readily dissolves many polymers, the process can be used to drive polymers into the surfaces of products made from cements, ceramics or other water-based pastes. Polymer-impregnated structures are better able to resist shock and impact forces and could be useful for a range of products from buildings to auto bodies.

The Laboratory, with the only operational plutonium facility in the country, also is interested in the chemistry of cement because radioactive waste often is mixed with cement for long-term storage and disposal. Because regular cement contains water, however, chemical reactions occur inside these cemented wastes, sometimes resulting in a hazardous buildup of hydrogen gas. If the cemented waste could be treated with the supercritical carbon dioxide process, dangerous chemical reactions would be eliminated.

The Lab’s supercritical carbon dioxide research is funded internally through the Nuclear Materials Stabilization Technologies group. Commercial research continues through agreements with Materials Technology Limited and Custom Building Products of Seal Beach, Calif.

DOE 2nd Industrial Energy Efficiency Symposium & Expo

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Subject: DOE 2nd Industrial Energy Efficiency Symposium & Expo
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 11:46:46 -0800
From: Ed Beardsworth <edbeards@ufto.com>

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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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The DOE Office of Industrial Technology is holding its 2nd annual symposium in February in Washington DC. A program summary is shown below, taken directly from the OIT web site. This event looks like it could be valuable for your Industrial Customer folks.

Additional details can be gotten on line, or contact Energetics Inc, Columbia MD, 410-290-0370, fax 301-621-3329, and ask them to send you a copy of the full program brochure.

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http://www.oit.doe.gov/News/expo97.html

2nd Industrial Energy Efficiency Symposium & Expo
SPONSORED BY THE OFFICE OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

February 25-27, 1997 Hyatt Regency Crystal City Arlington, Virginia

The two-day conference will spotlight the public-private R&D; partnerships that are in place in seven key process industries: aluminum, chemicals, forest products, glass, metalcasting, petroleum refining, and steel.

This year’s theme, Turning Industry Visions Into Reality, strikes a chord with all technology and business managers. Today, more than ever, companies are looking to leverage every dollar by teaming up with other organizations and sharing technology risks. The 2nd Industrial Energy Efficiency Symposium and Exposition will bring manufacturers, suppliers, and customers together with key representatives of research laboratories, universities, and government programs to facilitate networking and the formation of research and technology alliances.

Find out how these industries will be gaining a competitive edge in rapidly changing global markets.

See how the industries of the future will meet the energy, environmental, and economic challenges of tomorrow.

Learn how collaborative R&D; addresses industry needs and accelerates the development of crosscutting technologies such as advanced turbines, textiles, advanced materials and composites, forging, heat treating, and welding.

Visit the exhibition hall, where exhibitors will showcase their technologies, products, and services.

(These headings are links in the web page) Invitation Background Information Exhibition Information Conference Schedule Post-Expo Workshops and Activities Sponsors Registration and Arrangements

Supercritical CO2 and flyash

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Subject: UFTO NOTE — Supercritical CO2 and flyash
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 1997 18:06:44 -0800
From: Ed Beardsworth <edbeards@ufto.com>

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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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Supercritical CO2 turns flyash into valuable products, toughens common materials

UFTO has established contact with a small company in Reno NV, Materials Technology Ltd., which has patented a process that uses supercritical CO2 to harden and seal concrete, and turns wastes like fly ash and sludge into materials which are strong, fireproof and waterproof.

Los Alamos National Lab has been actively testing the process for use in radioactive waste storage, and is issuing a press release today, January 20, citing its remarkable simplicity and tremendous implications and wide ranging applications. Stories may appear in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere in the national press. Also see Scientific American, November 96, page 40, for a good overview of the technology.

Basically, SC CO2 has zero surface tension, and soaks completely through materials, effecting chemical and structural changes instantly that otherwise can take centuries (e.g., in the case of concrete–which hardens gradually over time).

The company met recently with top officials at DOE and received an enthusiastic response. UFTO has developed close contacts with the principals, who are looking for utilities to work with them. (One concept is to co-locate production of these materials at power plants, and use their ash and CO2.)

I have additional information. You can also contact them directly, or browse their Web site at www.mtltech.com.

Contact: Roger Jones, Materials Technology Ltd. Reno NV 702-852-2320, fax 702-852-3035