09:04, September 17, 2007

Coal is considered the most abundant reserve energy resource in the world, as well as the cheapest to produce and utilize.

Although billions of tons of coal are mined and sold each year, it has become a less-popular source of energy than oil, for example, because of concerns over its heavily polluting emissions.

In the last several years, numerous entities, corporations and research institutions have made efforts to develop new technologies to address this problem, but no solutions have been proven feasible. But now, it would seem, that is about to change.

Technology recently developed and patented by Clean Coal Technologies Inc (CCTI) promises to be a new chapter in the search for cleaner-burning coal.

CCTI, formerly named Saudi American Minerals Inc., began research on clean coal technology in 1991. The company claims to have developed a way to remove volatile and contaminating compounds from coal through a special pre-treating process, creating clean-and-efficient-burning fuel at a low cost.

The CCTI research is headed by Larry Hunt, a coal-mine owner and operator for many years in the fields of Kentucky and West Virginia.

After years of research, engineering and testing, the technology seemed to work. In 1998, Hannah Energy, a Texas corporation, bought the rights to the technology. That same year, Hannah Energy traded the rights to CCTI for stock.

The clean energy technology was granted a patent by the United States Patent Office in September 2002.

Valuable partnership

CCTI has forged a long-term partnership with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a Fortune 500 company, to promote this much-needed technology across the world.

With over 35,000 employees, of whom 8,000 are engineers, SAIC collects more than $8 billion in annual sales and acts as a consultant to the US Department of Energy.

With operations in 133 countries, SAIC is a veteran on the international scene. It has played a crucial role in the development of CCTI, offering advice on engineering, marketing and other important technical issues.

SAIC has also introduced CCTI to the Federal Energy Technology Commission, some other government agencies, and several strategic energy partners around the world.

CCTI plans to continue to work with SAIC in all of its projects and markets including negotiating in foreign countries, arranging financing (including government grants), scientific application and testing, market, sales and distribution.

Technologies

CCTI's innovative process uses low-quality coal as its feed-stock (raw material supply). The feed-stock is then crushed into pieces between one-fourth and half the original size. The crushed product undergoes a thermal process in a closed cell in which the temperatures of the coal increase in a carefully monitored and controlled set of atmospheres.

The coal is then heated to temperatures approaching 1,100 C, a capability unique to CCTI's technology. Through the patented CCTI process, volatile matter is then released and captured without "shocking" (disintegrating) the coal.

The completion of the CCTI process takes between six and 18 minutes, depending on the raw coal feed and the desired specification of the finished product.

This patented process removes nearly all of the moisture and most of the volatile matter pollutants inherent in coal, while maintaining the majority if the mineral's structural integrity.

This process usually significantly increases the British Thermal Unit (BTU) output of the processed coal, producing a higher energy output per pound of fuel. An increase of 10 to 20 percent in BTU can have a geometric increase in market value.

If the coal is intended for home heating and cooking, it is then formed into briquettes and coated with CCTI's special binder/igniter.

This coating is biodegradable and provides the briquette with a low-level ignition point, enhanced structural integrity, and moisture resistance. Briquettes or pellets that are coated with this treatment have an extended shelf life even when stored out of doors.

The CCTI briquette is high in BTU per pound and virtually smokeless. It has a multi-year shelf life, due to the waterproof qualities of the CCTI binder/igniter coating and thus has a high demand in international market.

Source:China Daily