Apr 3 2008
Fuel Tech, Inc. and Chem-Mod LLC, a privately-owned environmental services company, today announced the signing of a Project Development Agreement to demonstrate the benefits of certain complementary technologies. The objective of the agreement is to jointly market a program for substantially reducing emissions of multiple pollutants, including sulfur dioxide (SO2) and mercury, from coal-fired utility and industrial plants utilizing each company’s proven technologies.
Chem-Mod is the developer of The Chem-Mod™ Solution, a low capital cost technology that uses an innovative dual sorbent system for introducing highly reactive inorganic materials before, during and after coal combustion in order to achieve significant reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide, mercury and other heavy metals, such as arsenic. Fuel Tech’s core technologies revolve around the precise injection of chemicals into boiler environments utilizing computational fluid dynamics models enhanced by proprietary visualization software.
By incorporating both technologies, it is anticipated that chemical dosage rates can be reduced significantly while increasing chemical efficacy, thereby lowering the ongoing costs associated with prospective emission reduction programs. The business model under this agreement is similar to Fuel Tech’s FUEL CHEM® business model, and any profits under this agreement would be shared equally between the two companies.
This combined approach is believed to be particularly well suited for operators of industrial boilers and small to medium-sized utility boilers. Such units, under ever-tightening SO2 and mercury emission regulations, may otherwise be faced with the prohibitive cost and physical space limitations of competing approaches, including flue gas desulfurization and activated carbon injection systems. In addition, large coal-fired boilers already fitted with flue gas desulfurization units, or scrubbers, may benefit operationally and financially from incremental SO2 reductions, made possible by combining the two companies’ technologies.
John F. Norris Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Fuel Tech, commented, “Electric utility and industrial plant operators are anxious to find lower-cost solutions for reducing SO2 and mercury emissions, particularly in cases where capital intensive upgrades on smaller or older units cannot be economically justified. For that reason, we are excited about the prospect of jointly marketing our chemical injection capabilities with Chem-Mod’s demonstrated technologies to yield a more cost-effective solution for reducing undesirable plant emissions. We intend to test this combined approach expeditiously.”
Doug Comrie, Vice President of Chem-Mod, stated, “While Chem-Mod and Fuel Tech each have strong capabilities and solutions in the area of emissions control, together we hope to be able to offer more effective, more affordable and even more comprehensive benefits to the many energy and industrial companies looking for ways to reduce their emissions. We look forward to helping coal-fired plants become a truly clean, reliable and low cost energy source.”