Clean Energy Joint Venture receives concession to build and operate first 30 megawatt solid municipal waste and tire gasificatio
October 25 2004 - 10:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Clean Energy Joint Venture receives concession to build and operate
first 30 megawatt solid municipal waste and tire gasification pilot
facility for Mexico OTC/BB: CECU VANCOUVER, Oct. 25
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Clean Energy Combustion Systems Inc.
("Clean Energy") (OTC BB: CECU) is pleased to announce that it has
signed, with its Joint Venture partner, EnEco Industries Ltd., a
Memorandum of Understanding with Sistema Metropolitano de
Procesamiento de Desechos Soildos ("SIMEPRODESO"), granting the
Joint Venture a concession to construct and operate a 30 megawatt
solid municipal waste-to-energy facility for the City of Monterrey,
Mexico, using EnEco's Controlled Oxidation Reaction Environment
"CORE" gasification technology. Clean Energy estimates that it will
cost approximately $70 million to construct the facility and to
commence operations. Construction is proposed for 2005 and
operations are scheduled to commence in 2006. Clean Energy and
EnEco intend to secure an experienced third-party solid municipal
waste operator to fund the project and to operate the initial plant
as well as anticipated follow-up plants for SIMEPRODESO, and are
currently under discussions with an established operator relative
to this aspect of the project. The CORE technology is an
environmentally-friendly gasification system which converts organic
or carbon-based materials contained in solid municipal waste to 5%
ash content. Since the gasification process uses relatively low
heat levels, the glass, metals, aluminum, wires and other ferrous
and non-ferrous metals and aggregates contained in the solid waste
will not be gasified; instead, they will be easily recovered in
their original form after the gasification process and sold to
recycling markets. All material remaining after the gasification
process is further processed to ensure all inert material is
contaminant free. The resulting ash from the gasification of the
organic materials is relatively benign since it is not contaminated
with heavy metals. After this final processing step, ash together
with glass and sand recovered in the gasification process may be
used for asphalt and concrete building materials as well as land
fill cover. The energy rich gases produced by the gasification
process will be used to create electrical energy through a steam
turbine circuit. Final plant discharges are lower and, in some
cases significantly lower, than that presently allowed under United
States and Canadian pollution standards. SIMEPRODESO is a private
company owned by the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico which provides all
of the State's municipal solid waste management services.
SIMEPREDESO currently processes approximately 5,000 tons per day of
unsorted solid municipal waste for the Monterrey municipal area.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding, for the next 20 years
SIMEPRODESO will deliver 765 tons per day of unsorted solid
municipal waste containing at least 10% wood waste, and 135 tons
per day of car and truck tires, to the plant to be gasified and to
create heat energy that can be converted into electrical energy,
and will be obligated to purchase the electrical power generated at
a fixed rate of US $0.06 per kW. Based upon the 30 MW output of the
plant, this will result in approximately US $16 million in revenues
per year. Under the Memorandum of Understanding, the Joint Venture
will construct additional capacity on site, and additional 600 ton
per day gasification facilities at outlying transit locations in
Monterrey once the initial plant is operating. Under the Joint
Venture, all profits from the operation, licensing or sale of the
Monterrey plant will be split 50/50 between Clean Energy and EnEco.
As part of the Joint Venture, Clean Energy will allow EnEco to use
Clean Energy's unique high-efficiency valveless oscillating burner
technology as a component part of the secondary oxidation process
in the CORE gasification system under which the gases produced by
the primary gasification process are burned and the resultant heat
energy is made available to create steam energy for electricity
production. Accordingly to Mr. R. Dirk Stinson, President of Clean
Energy, "Over the past several months, Clean Energy and EnEco have
meet with senior officials of the National Forest Commission of the
federal government of Mexico (the Comison Nacional Forestal or
"CONAFOR"), a department of the federal Ministry of Natural
Resources (the Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales or
"SEMARNAT"). While the meetings were originally held to discuss the
disposition of forestry waste and the creation of electricity using
our gasification technologies, they have since branched out to
address more critical national issues facing Mexico relating to
shortages of electricity capacity and the environmentally-sound
disposition of solid municipal waste, wood waste and tires, with
CONAFOR taking a leading role in identifying applications in Mexico
on behalf of SEMARNAT and introducing the parties. Under our
discussions with CONAFOR and SEMARNAT, the Joint Venture proposed
the construction of four CORE gasification pilot plants to commence
construction by 2005 and operation by 2006. The 30 MW plant for
Monterrey is the first of these pilot plants. Through CONAFOR and
SEMARNAT, the Joint Venture is currently in discussions with senior
officials in another State of Mexico relative to the use of the
CORE gasification system to address the municipal solid waste
requirements for one of the largest cities in Mexico located in
that State, as well as several other potential users and/or
investors in the country. On behalf of itself and SEMARNAT, CONAFOR
has provided in the Memorandum of Understanding its agreement to
continue to provide assistance in making CORE gasification
waste-to-energy viable in Monterrey and the rest of Mexico, as well
as developing wood plantations for producing renewable energy using
our gasification technologies with SIMEPRODESO and other private
producers." Mr. Ross Dickenson, President of EnEco, added "The CORE
gasification system is a proven environmentally-friendly municipal
waste-to-energy technology that is ideal for growing countries like
Mexico in need of electricity and looking for solutions to their
municipal waste problems, including reductions in landfills. We
believe the construction of numerous CORE facilities in Mexico,
combined with the energy and operating efficiencies and reduced
emissions resulting from the incorporation of Clean Energy's
oscillating burner technology as the secondary combustion chamber
in the CORE system, will provide the basis for the rapid selling of
the CORE system internationally. EnEco and Clean Energy are already
in discussions relating to joint proposals with respect to other
countries." Background on Clean Energy and Oscillating Combustion:
Clean Energy is a development-stage U.S. public company based in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company's principal
oscillating combustion technology is a unique high-efficiency
valveless combustor technology that operates on the principles of
cyclical combustion, originally developed for aerospace propulsion.
The company currently holds 6 patents in this area. This patented
oscillating combustion technology is superior to the standard,
steady-state combustion technology currently used in the heat
transfer industry in terms of both energy efficiency and
consequential fuel cost savings as well as significantly reduced
NOx and other emission levels. The company's oscillating combustion
technologies can be used in a wide variety of systems that burn
gaseous and hydrocarbon-based fuels and waste matter to produce
thermal energy for heat utilization applications and the onsite
generation of electricity. The company will either design,
manufacture, and market products incorporating its
environmentally-friendly and fuel efficient technologies, such as
its gasification system, or license or design, manufacture, and
sell its products for incorporation into systems marketed by other
companies. For further information visit Clean Energy's Website at
http://www.clean-energy.com/ or contact: Clean Energy Combustion
Systems Inc. Telephone: 604-681-9337 Facsimile 604-681-9354 Email:
Forward-Looking Statements: Clean Energy's development plans and
the prospective potential of its Joint Venture with EnEco as
described in this news release constitute "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the United States federal
securities laws that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual
results may vary substantially from expectations as a result of a
variety of factors including, by way of example and not limitation,
Clean Energy's financial requirements, current lack of capital and
prospective inability of the Joint Venture to satisfactorily
procure orders from the Mexican government, financing for the Joint
Venture and changes in Clean Energy's business plan and corporate
strategies; and the various risks and uncertainties disclosed by
Clean Energy in its various reports filed from time-to-time with
the SEC. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the
various disclosures made by Clean Energy in its various reports
filed from time-to-time with the SEC that attempt to advise
interested parties of the risks and uncertainties that may affect
Clean Energy's business and an investment in its securities.
DATASOURCE: Clean Energy Combustion Systems Inc. CONTACT: visit
Clean Energy's Website at http://www.clean-energy.com/ or contact:
Clean Energy Combustion Systems Inc., Telephone: (604) 681-9337,
Facsimile (604) 681-9354, Email:
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