Get the latest delivered to your inbox
Privacy Policy

Now Reading

World Waste Technologies Applies for Patent Covering the Production of Alcohol, Including Ethanol, Through Gas Process

World Waste Technologies Applies for Patent Covering the Production of Alcohol, Including Ethanol, Through Gas Process

Published 03-05-07

Submitted by World Waste Technologies, Inc.

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 2007--World Waste Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB:WDWT) today announced it has filed a provisional patent covering an energy self sufficient process for the treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW) into the production of mixed alcohols (including ethanol) through a synthetic gas and catalyst process. The process also includes the co-generation of renewable electricity from a producer gas as well as a process for efficiently separating the resulting mixed alcohols from hydrocarbons and other liquids.

Separately, the Company announced the formation of a Technical Advisory Board to assist it in advancing its business of creating usable commodity products including ethanol and co-generated renewable electricity from municipal solid waste. William A. Farone, Ph.D. and Lee Torrens, along with World Waste Director David Gutacker, have agreed to serve on this advisory board.

Dr. Farone is focused on assisting World Waste in identifying chemically and economically preferred methodologies for producing ethanol and other renewable energy products from municipal solid waste. Dr. Farone is the President and CEO of Applied Power Concepts, Inc., a company that provides technology development and analysis services and has expertise in chemical and biochemical process development and optimization, particularly in the areas of alternative energy, biotechnology for energy crops, and alternate liquid fuels (ethanol, methanol). Formerly Dr. Farone was Director of Applied Research for Philip Morris, Inc., and also served as Director of Scientific Research at Lever Brothers Company. He has numerous patents and technical publications, a B.S. and Masters degree in Chemistry, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry.

Lee Torrens is focused on assisting World Waste in the scale-up and development of facilities that produce ethanol and other energy products from municipal solid waste. Mr. Torrens has an extensive background in developing renewable energy facilities, independent power production facilities, cogeneration facilities, waste to energy facilities, and medical waste facilities. Formerly, Mr. Torrens served as Executive Vice President of Ogden Martin Systems where he was responsible for all project development activities at a time when that company developed eight major projects worth over $840 million. In addition, Mr. Torrens is currently a Director and Principal of JM Dutton & Associates, an independent equity research company. Mr. Torrens has a B.S. and a Masters degree in Civil Engineering.

"The skills and background of both Bill Farone and Lee Torrens are strong assets for World Waste as we continue our efforts to develop projects and technologies for the transformation of municipal solid waste (MSW) into beneficial products, including fuel grade ethanol, co-generated renewable energy, and paper pulp," said CEO John Pimentel. "We have already benefited from their efforts through their help in our provisional patent application for a new method of creating fuel alcohols including ethanol from MSW through a synthetic gas intermediary step, and our work with various gasification processes."

"By utilizing our Anaheim Plant and the Applied Power Concepts labs in Anaheim as our learning centers, we believe that we have gained valuable experience in understanding how to commercialize the process of transforming residual and commercial MSW into beneficial products and energy," said Pimentel.

Company Update

To date, World Waste has focused on converting MSW into a cellulose biomass which the Company currently refines into an unbleached fiber known in the paper industry as "wetlap pulp". The Company has also been investing in potential improvements to the core process designed to produce fuel grade alcohols, including ethanol, as well as processes for co-generating renewable electricity.

Ethanol and Co-Generated Renewable Energy

The Company has also been pursuing the development of various energy products which can be produced from MSW. One process which we believe has potential for successful commercialization involves using gasification technologies to produce a synthetic gas from various products in our process. This gas may then be passed through a catalyst environment to produce fuel grade alcohols, primarily ethanol, with some portion of the gas stream co-generating renewable electricity. We believe this same basic approach can also be used to produce hydrogen, a critical element in many current industrial processes and to several future clean energy platforms. In this area the Company recently filed a provisional patent covering a process and certain conditions which may maximize the yield of the fuel alcohols including the beneficial co-generation of renewable electricity through a producer gas which may drive a steam or a gas turbine.

Also in the ethanol area, in addition to the above process for producing fuel alcohols through gasification, the Company is investigating alternative pathways for transforming its cellulose biomass product into ethanol using various acid and enzymatic hydrolysis processes.

Pulp Process

In the MSW/cellulose biomass to wetlap pulp product area at its Anaheim, California Plant, World Waste has processed, over a seven month period, over 2,500 tons of MSW into cellulose biomass, which has been refined into over 400 tons of wetlap pulp. Although we have not yet been able to produce product in commercial quantities, the wetlap product has been supplied to three corrugating medium manufacturers in Southern California over this period on a test basis. The customers have recently provided positive feedback on the pulp quality and specifications, based upon these limited test quantities. World Waste recently developed a commercial relationship with one of these customers whereby that customer, although not contractually obligated to do so, is currently purchasing all the product World Waste is capable of producing at market prices consistent with terms commonly used for the sale of recycled corrugated containers, OCC, exported from the Los Angeles region.

The start up and operation of the Anaheim Plant was made possible through a series of equipment upgrades financed from the proceeds of our Series B offering completed in the first half of 2006. "We deeply appreciate the support of our investors which has enabled us to start operations at the Anaheim Plant. This has provided us actual operating data and insights as to what additional investments would be required to make the Anaheim Plant support full capacity operations, as well as insights on the critical improvements which must be included in the design and construction of future pulp-based plants for those future plants to generate sufficient financial returns," said Pimentel.

Key challenges that faced at the Anaheim Plant include an unexpectedly high level of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) from organic wastes in the wastewater generated in the pulp screening and cleaning process, and design issues related to the steam classification vessels which will require some level of re-engineering and repairs to enable sustained operations. These factors currently restrict full scale, profitable operations at the Anaheim Plant and have led to management's decision to reduce the workforce and to run the plant on an intermittent basis for process improvement trials, technology demonstration, product development, and other research and marketing purposes. These restricted operations allow us to continue evaluating several initiatives, some of which include additional capital investment, in an attempt to improve these conditions and to improve the economics of operating the Anaheim plant.

To manage the continued operations of the Anaheim Plant and to lead the planning and design for future plants, Dr. James Ferris, the Company's Chief Operating Officer and President (and member of the Board of Directors), has taken on increased responsibility at the Anaheim facility. Mr. Fred Lundberg has stepped down from his position as Senior VP of Engineering, but will continue to serve the Company in an advisory capacity.

Based on our research and development including our accumulated experience from operating the Anaheim Plant, World Waste believes the characteristics necessary to profitably produce pulp include: a relatively high volume of MSW and a larger plant enabling a larger scale operation, a desire by the community to increase recycling rates to minimize the amount of this waste disposed of in landfills, feedstock composition which includes increased paper products, a fully scoped on-site water treatment facility, and higher landfill tipping fees than we experience in Anaheim, California. Regarding the paper "wetlap" product line, World Waste has continued its discussions with various paper and solid waste companies and government agencies to determine where the proper combination of operating characteristics can be achieved to pursue a larger scale wetlap production facility in future locations. While developing the process and market for wetlap, the Company has also been actively pursuing end markets for our raw cellulose biomass material prior to its use as a feedstock for making wetlap pulp. This would allow the Company to avoid the capital and operating costs of a water treatment facility to address the BOD issue.

About World Waste Technologies, Inc.

World Waste Technologies, Inc. is seeking to commercialize patented and proprietary technologies that management believes will allow a significant amount of municipal solid waste to be recycled into beneficial products. A major component of MSW is paper-based material, hydrocarbon-based material, and other high energy value feedstocks. The Company's technology currently converts paper, cardboard, and paper packaging found in MSW into a cellulose biomass. This cellulose biomass can be further processed into wetlap and sold to box and paper manufacturers. The Company also is developing technologies which can be used in transforming MSW into a gas capable of creating renewable energy products such as fuel grade alcohols (including ethanol) and co-generated renewable electricity. The Company recently completed construction of its initial facility in Anaheim, California.

The contents of this press release are presented as a general overview of the company. This release is intended only to contain general information regarding the company and its business and does not purport to provide complete disclosure or analysis of all matters that may be relevant to a decision to invest in the company. In addition, certain matters discussed in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements". Actual results and the timing of certain events may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's ability to control or predict, including, but not limited to risks and uncertainties outlined in the company's periodic reports filed with the SEC. Other risk factors may include, but are not limited to, the company's ability to successfully implement its business strategy, including its ability to produce and sell product at commercial levels and adequate prices and the acceptance of its product by potential customers and by the market in general, the ability of the company to achieve profitability even if it is able to sell its product at commercial levels, the company's ability to raise subsequent financing in order to build additional facilities, the company's ability to develop other energy products which can be produced from its MSW, fluctuations in quarterly results, increased competition, the economical operation of the company's process, and the company's ability to protect the proprietary technology it uses. Further, the company operates in an industry sector where securities values are highly volatile and may be influenced by economic and other factors beyond the company's control, such as announcements by competitors and service providers. The statements made herein are made as of the date of this release, and the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Copyright Business Wire 2007

World Waste Technologies, Inc. logo

World Waste Technologies, Inc.

World Waste Technologies, Inc.

World Waste will deliver the technology and operating plants capable of converting a majority of Municipal Solid Waste into valuable and marketable products - using an environmentally sound and economic method of waste processing. World Waste Technologies, Inc. is seeking to commercialize patented and proprietary technologies that management believes will allow a significant amount of municipal solid waste to be recycled into beneficial products. A major component of MSW is paper-based material, hydrocarbon-based material, and other high energy value feedstocks. The Company's technology currently converts paper, cardboard, and paper packaging found in MSW into a cellulose biomass. This cellulose biomass can be further processed into wetlap and sold to box and paper manufacturers. The Company also is developing technologies which can be used in transforming MSW into a gas capable of creating renewable energy products such as fuel grade alcohols (including ethanol) and co-generated renewable electricity. The Company recently completed construction of its initial facility in Anaheim, California.

More from World Waste Technologies, Inc.

Join today and get the latest delivered to your inbox