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– Cleantech Forum NY Oct 21
– EESAT SF Oct 27
– WSJ on Cold Fusion, Gasification
– Transmission Line Sag Mitigator
– Mechanical De-Icer
– UFTO comments
– Reinventing Corporate R&D

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Cleantech Venture Forum III

Next week, New York City. The Cleantech Venture Forum III starts on Tuesday afternoon Oct 21 with some pre-conference workshops. I’ll be presenting information about Federal technology resources. The conference gets into full swing on Wed.

The Forum program will have nearly thirty investor presentations and refinements based on participant feedback from previous events. The quality of presenting companies is excellent with the 21 private companies on show collectively having revenue of over $100 million, thereby demonstrating “market traction” for cleantech products and services, from alternative energy to water purification.

The Forum will take place in a positive climate for cleantech venturing. The $641 million invested in clean technology ventures during the first two quarters of 2003 is 22% higher than the $524 million invested over the same period last year, according to the most recent issue of the Cleantech Venture Monitor released this week. “Cleantech” doubled its venture capital market share to 8% during Q1-Q2 2003 from 4% in 2002. Nearly 100 cleantech companies were funded in the first half of 2003.

An executive summary of the most recent Cleantech Venture Monitor downloaded from
http://www.cleantechventure.com/index.cfm?pageSRC=InvestmentReports

The Cleantech III program agenda can be found at:
http://www.cleantechventure.com/index.cfm?pageSRC=Agenda

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Electric Energy Storage Applications & Technology
The EESAT 2003 meeting is in San Francisco, Oct 27-29. I plan to attend on the 28-29th. Hope to see you there. Complete information at http://www.sandia.gov/eesat

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The Wall Street Journal seems to be taking an increasing interest in energy technology.

A. There was a good report Sept. 5 on Cold Fusion, describing a conference the previous week with 150 scientists who continue to make progress, despite the inability to publish, get funding, or avoid risks to careers. The article concludes that whether or not the science is “pathological” (as the establishment holds), the failure to permit or provide honest scrutiny of the evidence certainly is a worse refutation of the scientific method.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106270936017252700,00.html

— Check out UFTO.COM’s “recommended reading” item on Cold Fusion
http://www.ufto.com/documentspublic/uftoextras.html#”Excess%20Heat:%20Why%20Cold%20Fusion%20Research%20Prevailed”

B. Gasification, the basis of the Billion $ DOE plan for “FutureGen”, i.e. zero- emission coal power plant of the future, and CO2 capture/sequestration, are both actually being profitably performed at a decades-old powerplant that was nearly scrapped long ago.
“From Obsolete to Cutting Edge” October 15. In 1988, Basin Electric Power Cooperative took over an experimental facility known as the Weyburn Project, begun in the 70’s. They make methane from lignite, and also sell CO2 via pipeline to oil well operators, who inject it into wells to increase recovery, while possibly sequestering the CO2.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106618439869515100,00.html

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Transmission Line Sag Mitigator
Remember this. The program has made steady progress with CEC (Calif Energy Commission) funding, and it became the subject of an EPRI TC project, following full scale tests at PG&E in the summer of 2002. Developers are in negotiations with manufacturers, so they’re on their way to commercialization, and are looking for partners for business development.

Contact: Manuchehr Shir 510-594-0300 x202 m.shir@misolution.com

CEC issued a newsrelease recently:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/releases/2003_releases/2003-10-02_line_mitigator.html.

Get the full story by downloading:
http://www.misolution.com/SLiM%20Story%209-3-03.pdf

UFTO Note 29 Jun 1999 – T Line Sag Mitigator Gets Funding; Partner Wanted
http://198.63.37.164/clients-only/uftonotes99.html

UFTO Note 01 Oct 2002 – Short Subjects (previous update)

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Passive Mechanical De-Icer
MIS has come up with another innovation for transmission lines — to mechanically prevent ice buildup on bundled conductor by delivering lateral vibration to the line. MIS has shown the initial feasibility of this approach by both dynamic simulations (using finite element methods) and by small scale testing. The central concept of this device, called the De-Icer Device (pat. pending), is that it will prevent, as opposed to remove, ice buildup. It is a passive mechanical device (no electronics) that will function on de-energized lines. It is designed to be installed between existing spacers or, in some cases, replace spacers.

Contact: Manuchehr Shir 510-594-0300 x202 m.shir@misolution.com
or Dr. Ram Adapa, EPRI, regarding the TC 650-855-8988 radapa@epri.com

http://www.epriweb.com/public/000000000001009165.pdf

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A Note to UFTO Clients:

UFTO needs feedback. Please let me know any comments or suggestions of ways I can make UFTO more valuable to you. What recent UFTO Notes have you found especially interesting? Also, visit the website and tell me how it could be enhanced. (Have you seen the new features on both the public and clients-only areas?)

Coming Soon, to an UFTO Note near you…
*** Let me know which ones you think I should do first.**

– Distributed Utility Integration Test (DUIT) Facility Opens
– Enzyme, microbial fuel cells and hydrogen
– Thermal water splitting
– More New New Solar
– Wave, tidal, ocean power
– New progress in Li polymer batteries
– Powerplant exhaust to solar biomass
– Gas-to-Liquids (GTL)..old old technology taking off

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Reinventing Corporate R&D
“Now even companies with big research budgets don’t try to invent everything in-house”

It was great to see this article in Business Week recently (September 22, 2003). It says that ” a new R&D model is emerging, dubbed open innovation. Companies of all sizes are rounding up more partners, big and small, than ever before, and they’re casting wide research nets, snapping up work at diverse corporate, government, and academic labs.” It also mentions that “P&G has 53 “technology scouts” who search beyond company walls for promising innovations.”

So! What does that remind you of??

http://www.businessweek.com/cgi-bin/register/archive.cgi?c=&y=03&w=38&h=b3850067.htm

Small scale Gas to Liquids (GTL)

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First demonstrated over 80 years ago, GTL has a long and colorful history. It was a mainstay of the German and Japanese fuel supply in WW2. Governments, major oil companies, and new entrants have made substantial investments over the years. While limited commercial operations are in place, the technology hasn’t progressed enough to enable widespread economic use.

Blue Star Sustainable Technologies Corp. has developed a set of new catalytic processes to convert natural gas into clean liquid fuels, as a new variant on Fischer-Tropsch. Based on a number of innovations (pat. or pat pend.), Blue Star reduces costs by simplifying the GTL process and by making small-scale units that can be standardized and mass produced for use in gas fields throughout the world, rather than seeking economies through very large units.

A pilot unit (six barrels per day) has successfully demonstrated all of the process steps. The Company is now building a 10-barrel per day demonstration unit (Blue Star 10) to prove integrated system performance. Designed to operate in remote oil and gas field operations and other applications, the Blue Star 10-demonstration unit is to be located in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin gas field, where very large potential unit sales exist.

BlueStar’s approach is unlike any other player in the GTL industry, with their focus on volume sales of small-scale (10 to 500 BPD) plants. All the others do large scale facilities (10,000 to 100,000 barrels per day), and can produce only a synthetic crude oil which requires further refining.

Remarkably, the liquid fuel produced by Blue Star –in the field– will be suitable for immediate use in diesel engines. (Lab analyses show good properties, and the fuel is EPA registered; engine testing has yet to be done.) The company calls this “Direct Diesel”. Their units could serve numerous potential applications worldwide for small stranded gas fields, as just one example. Coal bed methane also looks like an attractive market possibility, not to mention the 3.7 TCF of gas that is flared around the world each year.

The Blue Star 10 is to be the Company’s first commercial product. It is skid mounted and designed to be transported to remote locations by truck. The Blue Star 10 converts approximately 200 MCFD of natural gas into 10 BPD (420 gallons per day) of a clean synthetic diesel. It also generates 300 kW of excess electricity (6,807 kWh per day). Industrial grade potable water and low temperature heat are the other byproducts of the process. The Blue Star 10 produces minimal toxic or noxious emissions.

These attributes are intended to open markets for applications where either: 1) electrical and fuel delivery infrastructures are not readily accessible; 2) power and fuel are expensive; or 3) there may be on-site uses for heat or water. Broader mandates for clean fuel emission standards are supportive of market development. In particular, the fuel produced by the Blue Star process contains essentially no sulfur, surpassing diesel fuel standards to take effect in 2006. The fuel also has improved combustion characteristics.

Blue Star will capitalize on proprietary catalyst, hardware and system concepts that provide competitive advantages for the development of small-scale GTL facilities. Interestingly, some of Blue Star’s key innovations do not lend themselves to application at large scale, with the important exception of the “direct diesel” capability. Licensing of technology is a distinct part of the company’s future plans.

The Company is also developing a mid-scale unit capable of producing 500 BPD of high-grade synthetic fuel from 5,000 MCFD of natural gas. At this size, the Blue Star 500 can deliver twice the liquid conversion efficiency of the Blue Star 10. The Blue Star 500 would be useful for converting stranded gas fields in the 50 to 100 BCF range in North America and other parts of the world to a high quality, clean and transportable fuel. Many fields with these characteristics are believed to exist worldwide. There are also numerous locations with fields of similar size where gas is currently flared or vented that provide market opportunities for both the Blue Star 10 and Blue Star 500 plants. While significantly larger, the Blue Star 500 is still substantially below the commercial scale targeted by competing companies in the GTL industry.

In Phase I, a prototype of the Blue Star 10 will be completed in 2002 and tested at an application site in 2003. Manufacturing engineering, marketing and business development activities to prepare the Company for commercial introduction of the Blue Star 10 will also be completed during Phase I of the business plan.

Following Phase I, the Company expects to proceed to commercial sales and distribution in Phase II. Manufacturing will be outsourced, possibly offshore and adjacent to international markets as sales volumes grow. A business scenario projecting Phase II performance has been developed. In this scenario, sales of the Blue Star 10 unit are projected to reach 200 units per year in 2008. The first Blue Star 500 unit is constructed in 2007.

The Company seeks a participant to fund a significant share of the next phase of its program (Phase I) covering a two year time period. The total cost of the Phase I program is $12 million. The size of the ownership share available and the structure of such participation are negotiable. Emex Corporation (EMEX-nasdaq) currently owns the Company, and is committed to continuing as an active investor. A business plan is available.

Contact: Nicholas Vanderborgh, President
Blue Star Sustainable Technologies Corp., Arvada, CO
303-432-8630 nvanderborgh@bluestarstc.com

[Text adapted from company materials with further discussions with management.]