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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gasification Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (514)	8/11/2006 6:25:37 PM
From: jmj	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1740

nice name for the company at least

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (514)	2/23/2007 10:34:26 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1740

Developer takes next step jg-tc.com By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer rstroud@jg-tc.com OAKLAND -- The developer of the proposed coal-to-diesel plant in the Oakland area has signed a lease to mine local coal to supply the plant. Energy development company American Clean Coal Fuels of Vancouver, Wash., signed the lease Wednesday with the Embarras Valley Coal Association. “This is a major step forward,” said American Clean Coal Fuels President Stephen Johnson, who added that the lease has been in the works for a year. “It’s a major milestone, but it will be the first of many. We have a long process ahead of us still.” Johnson said the next step in the process will be preliminary engineering and design work, title work, and surveying for the plant and coal mine. He said this will determine the exact location of the plant and mine entrance. Once the preliminary engineering is completed, Johnson said American Clean Coal Fuels will apply for air and mining permits from the state. He said the state would also require that an environmental impact study be conducted. “We should be in a position to start working on the permits I would guess nine months out. This is a rough estimate, “Johnson said. Johnson estimated that all of the engineering and design work required for the project would take up to 2 1/2 years to complete. “We are still anticipating opening the plant in early to mid-2012,” Johnson said. “We need to get the mine going before the plant.” American Clean Coal Fuels officials have reported its plant would convert 4.3 million tons of coal into 385 million gallons of synthetic diesel fuel annually and create 600 full-time jobs. Johnson said 400 of the jobs would be at the plant and 200 would be at the mine.

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (514)	2/22/2008 7:12:38 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

Coal company set to establish local office Planned project near Oakland will mine coal for fuel plant Thursday, February 21, 2008 10:04 PM CST By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer rstroud@jg-tc.com jg-tc.com OAKLAND — The developer of a planned coal-based fuel plant and mine near Oakland has signed a lease for an office near the town square. Project engineering manager George Besch said he and a computer technician will start working sometime this spring out of the field office at 26. E. Main St., a former dentist’s office. Besch, a Charleston resident, said the lease will become active March 1, but it will take at least a month to get the office ready for use. “The front door will be open if you would like to see us,” Besch said. According to Besch, the office will also provide a place for the project’s consultants and contractors to work while they are in Oakland. In addition, he said work space will be set aside for the Embarras Valley Coal Association. American Clean Coal Fuels, based in Portland, Ore., plans to mine the association’s coal to supply a coal-to-synthetic transportation fuel plant. Besch said this facility will be developed under the name of Illinois Clean Fuels LLC, which was recently formed. Besch said the coal association was instrumental in helping American Clean Coal Fuels create an aerial map of the 61,000 acres of association land in Coles, Douglas and Edgar counties. He said this map will be essential as the company creates digital models for its project. Association Chairman Joe McCoskey said the group also will provide access for the company to gather additional geological information by drilling later this year at various sites. “We are eager and raring to go,” McCoskey said of the project. American Clean Coal Fuels Director Stephen Johnson said the company will start developing detailed engineering work for the plant in about two months. He said the company also will soon begin the estimated 18-month process of obtaining state permits for the plant and mine. He said the location for the facilities is being finalized. “I think in short order we will have full financing for all the work that needs to be done over the next two years,” Johnson said. Once the engineering work is completed, he said, additional private financing for construction can be secured fairly easily. Coal association member Jim Miller said after seeing the FutureGen project’s federal funding jeopardized, he is thankful that the Oakland coal project is going to be privately funded. He said the federal government is not doing enough to offset the United States’ dependence on foreign oil. “I am an absolute believer that this is the future,” Miller said of American Clean Coal Fuels’ plans. American Clean Coal Fuel’s facility is expected to process about 4.3 million tons of coal per year into 400 million gallons of biodegradable synthetic transportation fuel. The facility is slated to use gasification technology and to sequester the resulting carbon dioxide, much like FutureGen. Johnson said the plan is for the facility to start off producing transportation fuel that is composed of 25-percent plant-based biomass and steadily increase the percentage over time. He said the goal is to eventually create carbon neutral transportation fuel. “We use coal as a bridge that allows us to economically make the transition to a sustainable fuel source,” Johnson said. For more information on American Clean Coal Fuels, visit www.cleancoalfuels.com. Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (514)	4/19/2008 7:22:17 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1740

Plans grow for Oakland fuel facility Friday, April 18, 2008 10:42 PM CDT jg-tc.com By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer rstroud@jg-tc.com MATTOON — The planned Illinois Clean Fuels project will mine coal and convert it to synthetic transportation fuel in the Oakland area, but coal will not be the plant’s only input. Stephen Johnson, founder and president of Portland Ore.-based American Clean Coal Fuels, said his plant is designed to provide an alternative to the world’s rapidly dwindling oil supply. He said switching from oil to coal, another depletable resource, for transportation fuel would be like “jumping from the frying pan into the frying pan.” Consequently, Johnson said the plant will start production with a blend of coal and biomass from municipal sewage as inputs. He said his long-term goal is for the low emission fuel to be derived from 100 percent renewable biomass, possibly using a high-yield prairie grass as the supply. “We believe it’s absolutely an achievable goal,” Johnson said on Friday during a presentation at Coles Together’s annual meeting. American Clean Coal Fuels reports its planned Oakland facility will produce 414 million gallons of synthetic diesel and jet fuel per year. Coal to supply the plant would be mined locally from Embarras Valley Coal Association land. The plant and mine would create 600 full-time jobs. Johnson said the plant is designed to help deal with the twin threats of global warming and a peaking oil supply. He said global oil consumption has reached 86 million barrels a day and is not declining, whereas oil companies have not discovered more oil than has been consumed annually since 1981. “We are really facing a major impending shortage of conventional transportation fuels. The bottom line is we are running out of oil,” Johnson said. He later said, “It’s time for us to respond to it in a large scale and in the most responsible way we can.” Like the proposed FutureGen power plant, Johnson said his facility would use gasification technology to convert coal to synthetic gas. He said the plant will use Fischer-Tropsch technology to convert this gas into the synthetic transportation fuel. He said the carbon dioxide emissions will be sequestered for later use in oil field recovery. Steve Jenkins, vice president for gasification services for CH2M Hill Inc. in Tampa, Fla., said gasification technology dates back to the late 18th century, when it was used to light London street lamps. He said Fischer-Tropsch technology dates to the 1920s, when the process was invented by its namesake chemical engineers. Johnson said Fischer-Tropsch has been used to create transportation fuels in South Africa since the 1970s, but has become much more economical in recent years. He said oil prices of more than $45 a barrel have motivated investors to look at this alternative fuel concept, which requires a large capital expenditure for plant construction. Past estimates from American Clean Coal Fuels have valued the Oakland project at $1.8 billion. Executive Director Cindy Titus of the Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce asked about the timetable for this project. Johnson said he is preparing to close on financing for the project. He estimated it will take two years to handle the engineering work and get the necessary state permits, and then two and a half years to build the facilities. “We are probably looking late in 2012 at the earliest for bringing the plant on line,” Johnson said. Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.