Frank / Ensyn Energy Corp.
Tough order Frank. Private companies are tough to run down. Ensyn Energy may be newly formed for pact with Gulf Canada Resources - therefore no info to date. Just a guess.
However, here is some information on one of the companies (assumption)in the group. Same CEO.
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Ensyn plans tomorrow's power: Espresso-like green oil may replace fuel oil or coal
The Ottawa Citizen
Sat, Aug 30 1997
While Ontario Hydro agonizes over safety issues at its nuclear plants, a local company is building alternative energy plants around the world whose byproducts can be safely and profitably sprayed on food.
So far, the energy produced by Ensyn Technologies' small-scale plants in the U.S. and Europe isn't competitive with the mammoth North American utilities on a price basis. But the food preparation and other uses of its product could make it a true low- cost -- as well as environmentally friendly -- competitor in the near future.
President Robert Graham said that in just three years, the company has doubled employment to 30 people designing plants that create ''green oil'' from waste wood and other plant material.
''We've taken the technology from our labs into the marketplace by becoming our own customer. By controlling the projects, we retain ownership and generate the revenues we need to finance development.''
Ensyn is close to starting work on seven new plants in Europe costing $5 million to $10 million each. Mr. Graham said the company is ''very profitable'' but declined to discuss specific results of the company which is now in the midst of arranging private investment. ''We expect to go public in about a year.''
The company, based in Greely just south of Ottawa, is one of several environmental companies featured this week at an international conference on biomass -- turning trees and other plants into useful products -- that attracted 450 business and government people to Montreal.
The Ensyn process involves rapidly heating at 950 degrees Fahrenheit for a half second and then cooling waste wood, rice, sugar cane or other materials. The result is a liquid with the colour and consistency of dark syrup. ''It looks just like espresso,''
Mr. Graham said.
The green oil replaces fuel oil or coal and generates 60 per cent more heat when it is burned to turn power turbines.
But this new fuel does not deplete non-renewable resources, cause more damage to the ozone layer or put sulphur into the environment.
Alan Delenko, a federal public servant who administers $10 million in bioenergy research, said raw material for biofuels is close to free when it consists of waste from forestry plants or agriculture production.
But this waste can cause environmental damage if it is burned or left to rot. It was the question of what to do with the waste from sawmills and pulp plants that led Mr. Graham to search for solutions 20 years ago.
A researcher with Forintek, a former Ottawa-based research agency funded by the federal government and forestry companies, he tried to find ways to turn the waste into viable products.
When Forintek lost interest, Mr. Graham took his research to the University of Western Ontario where he earned a doctorate in chemical engineering.
For centuries, people have used a much slower smoking process to make smoked meat and bacon as well as create the pitch used to caulk boats.
Working with Dr. Maurice Bergougnou, a petrochemicals expert, he spent years looking for a way to speed the process, create greater yields and generate a more versatile product.
The end result is a process that is very similar to the cracking process used in refineries to turn crude oil into petroleum products.
''We blast the wood products with hot sand. It is not a burning process -- the temperature is about half the normal combustion level -- but it is sufficient to liquify the wood.''
So far, North America has been slow to embrace the technology. With plenty of cheap power available from hydro and nuclear plants, only a few utilities in Wisconsin have built plants.
But with the true cost of conventional power now under tough scrutiny, the day for Mr. Graham's process could be fast approaching. Certainly, the issue of how to dispose of sawmill wastes remains.
Mr. Graham said a network of 10 small plants across Northern Ontario, for example, could consume 100 tonnes of waste daily and put 65 megawatts of power into the provincial power grid -- about seven per cent of the production of a nuclear plant. He said the cost of the power would be slightly above the cost of power generated by conventional sources. But when the revenue from other products is calculated, it becomes more competitive.
In Europe, where conventional power is not cheap and the green movement has political power, Ensyn has found real market interest.
To kick start environmentally friendly power, European countries offer favourable power rates or tax structures. More significantly, Mr. Graham said, European utilities also sign long-term power contracts which finance construction of the plants.
Ensyn built two small demonstration projects in Finland and Italy to show how the technology works. This has led to firm contracts to build five 10-megawatt plants in Italy, a 14-megawatt plant in England and a heating plant for a part of Stockholm.
Once financing and planning is completed, Mr. Graham said, the plants should be generating power by 1999.
They will be the first major commercial power plants since Ensyn built three plants in Wisconsin. These plants were built without benefit of favourable rates or tax structures.
The biggest operation in Manitowoc, Wisconsin is generating about five per cent of the town's energy where the green oil is mixed with coal. Tests by the town utility showed the boilers burned cleaner with reduced emissions and no negative impact on the boilers.
Mr. Graham said the Wisconsin experiments are profitable because some of the green oil is diverted and sold to the food treatment industry -- a potential market of $100 million annually. The green oil is used to give bacon and ham its distinctive smoky smell and flavour. It can also be used as a spray-on browning agent, which will make a microwaved chicken or pie crust look like it just came out of an oven. Mr. Graham said the biggest potential markets are using the oil for resins and glues in laminated particle boards. Ensyn hopes to have a commercial product shortly. Finally, the charcoal left behind from the process can be used as activated charcoal in a filtering process.
''When the revenue from all these products are considered, all of a sudden we have an energy source that is very competitive with heavy fuel oil and natural gas.'' |
