ATF.V got the news. This is big IMO, especially the financial support.
lternative Fuel Systems partnership with ECOS
Alternative Fuel Systems Inc ATF
Shares issued 24,373,982 2000-01-31 close $1.03
Tuesday Feb 1 2000
Ms. Jo-Anne Cappis reports
A formal partnership agreement announced today between Alternative Fuel Systems
and ECOS further supports the developing interests in dual fuel applications in Japan.
The committee, to be chaired by Dr. Akihiro Nishimura, will be responsible for
establishing the strategic direction of AFS's technology development and targeted
market applications in Japan and elsewhere for dual fuel technology. The AFS diesel
dual fuel (DDF) system uses natural gas and diesel together to dramatically reduce
emissions while providing outstanding engine performance. This expanded co-operative
partnership is the first stage in the creation of more joint partnership agreements to be
announced with other major Japanese manufacturing and distribution companies. This is
a goal AFS's new chief executive officer, John C. Anderson, has pursued since joining
AFS last August. Dr. Nishimura of ECOS says: "Our new partnership relationship goes
well beyond our financial support and commitment to AFS and will ensure sharing of
new patents and technologies developed in Japan including development programs
already under way. This will create a new synergism between a small but very innovative
company and Japanese industry interests in environmentally clean DDF technology and
its large potential applications in Japan."
ECOS, a private company headquartered in Osaka, Japan, has been a long-term
supporter of AFS and has financed AFS for the demonstration of its technology in
various different engine types over the past seven years. With three major Japanese
company sponsors, Obayashi Construction, Sanyo Electric, and Senko Trucking
Company, ECOS is in the business of creating new opportunities for dual fuel natural
gas engines. Recently, ECOS's marketplace took on a new dimension when the
Japanese government announced the launch of a major biomass initiative to treat waste
products.
Since natural gas in Japan is 98 per cent methane, the large quantities of methane
produced in a biomass conversion process will be used to supplement available supplies
of natural gas. This methane gas will then be used in a nationwide project to generate
electricity using dual fuel-powered engines with very low emissions.
AFS and ECOS plan a demonstration of this dual fuel capability late this year using a
new series of methane-powered generators. AFS recently established a
record-breaking reduction of NOx emissions using a DDF-powered stationary
Mitsubishi variable geometry diesel engine. Further development of this program is
under way.
Regarding the potential of these new markets, Dr. Toshihiko Hiraoka, president of
ECOS, said: "The creation of a closer partnership with AFS will result in the wide-scale
application of DDF technology, and enable Japan to realize its potential of
manufacturing clean-burning engines powered by methane and natural gas. This will
allow huge reductions in emissions, which are becoming of critical national importance in
Japan. The application of AFS's DDF and catalytic technology, through ECOS's
partnership, to the environmental issues in Japan, is a symbol of our confidence in the
creative innovation and results that AFS has demonstrated. This will form the basis for
further partnerships in the near future."
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