CleanTech BioFuels, Inc. (CLTH.OB)

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:59 am

CleanTech BioFuels, Inc. (CLTH.OB) is a small company with a big idea. The idea is to turn solid municipal waste, of which the U.S. generates over 600,000 tons each day, into ethanol, and CleanTech now has the licensed technology to do it.

Ethanol, you may recall, has been at the heart of a rising controversy. Ethanol is a versatile renewable fuel, based upon plant material, providing a clean way to tap the sun’s energy. Its biggest advantage is that it can be used to power cars. Since 1975, Brazil has been producing and distributing ethanol, made from sugarcane, and has now effectively replaced 50% of its gasoline use with ethanol. Although there are a number of issues that would make such a transition less likely for the United States, ethanol remains a popular candidate as a major alternative fuel for the future.

However, ethanol today is produced largely from fruits and grains, an important part of the world’s food supply. Demands for ethanol as an alternative energy source are met with objections that industrialized countries could strain dwindling food resources to power their cars.

One alternative is ethanol made from cellulose, something that people don’t eat. But there has always been a question about whether cellulosic ethanol can be produced efficiently enough to be competitive, and whether farmers would have the economic motivation to grow switchgrass and other cellulosic ethanol sources. Now, CleanTech BioFuels, using advanced chemical processing technologies developed at the University of California at Berkeley, has met a major milestone in producing ethanol from municipal solid waste, discarded material that has already been produced.

CleanTech has, for the first time, satisfactorily tested the technology and associated equipment for efficiently generating fermentable sugars from municipal solid waste. The patented technology uses nitric acid, versus the more common sulfuric or hydrochloric acid, for hydrolyzing cellulosic material. CleanTech believes that nitric acid hydrolysis represents the cutting edge of current technology in the cellulosic ethanol industry. These fermentable sugars can then be processed into ethanol.

The advantages of turning waste directly into ethanol are significant:

• It offers a non-fossil fuel source that has an already existing supplier, avoiding agricultural and food supply issues.
• It reduces the cost of transporting waste long distances for disposal.
• It reduces pollution released into the environment by the disposal of municipal solid waste.
• It reduces the amount of material going into landfills by as much as eighty five percent.
• It increases the amount of recyclable materials that can be recovered from municipal solid waste.
• It generates biofuels and other usable energy products at competitive prices.

Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:28 pm

Keep CleanTech BioFuels, Inc. (CLTH.OB) On Radar

CleanTech BioFuels, Inc. is focused on developing ground-breaking technologies to convert cellulosic material found in municipal solid waste (MSW) into ethanol. Out of the 250+ million tons of garbage disposed of each year in America, only 32% is recovered, 14% is burned at combustion facilities and the remaining 54% is tossed in landfills. However, using CleanTech’s technology, this unusable waste is a source of energy rather than a problem.

The company holds exclusive licenses to a collection of technologies that offer substantial advantages in converting MSW into viable energy. CleanTech is also developing an exclusive license to produce ethanol from municipal garbage by utilizing a dilute acid hydrolysis process that transforms cellulosic feedstock into fermentable sugars. Together, these technologies will allow CleanTech to produce cellulosic ethanol from municipal garbage at low costs.

Because the company has such a unique method of solving disposal issues while also addressing our dependence on foreign oils, it has been presented with opportunities to joint venture, license or acquire other related technologies that can also be used to convert municipal garbage into energy. CleanTech anticipates developing other complementary technologies to convert even greater amounts of the municipal waste stream into clean fuels.

The demand for the production of ethanol has grown to incredible levels with the recent volatility in oil prices and recently enacted legislation requiring a production rate of 36 billion gallons of ethanol per year by 2022. Ethanol from agricultural products like corn and sugar cane isn’t expected to be able to meet this mandate, creating an even stronger demand for advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol.

Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:36 am

Cleantech Biofuels Inc. (CLTH.OB) Breaks Ground Towards the Future

Cleantech Biofuels is taking the lead in the waste-to-energy industry. With many companies trying to find direction in this field, Cleantech has focused on developing ground-breaking technologies to convert cellulosic material found in municipal solid waste (MSW) into ethanol, which will help generate biofuels and other usable energy products at competitive prices.

Cleantech employs a sophisticated technology known as HFTA technology. HFTA was developed at the renowned University of California, Berkeley and has substantial advantages over any other available means to hydrolyze cellulosic material for ethanol production.

Cleantech has a game plan in place that is not only friendly to the marketplace but will put a smile across the faces of environmentalists across the world. Cleantech anticipates quickly achieving profitability by dramatically reducing pollution released into the environment by the disposal of municipal waste and reducing the costs of transporting waste long distances for disposal.

Leading the Cleantech revolution is Ed Hennessey. Hennessey serves as the company’s CEO and President and has been in charge of Cleantech and its predecessor companies since 2002. Through his tireless energy, Hennessey has developed the business strategy for the young company and has secured the existing technology licenses and required funding.

While becoming a pioneer in the waste-to-energy industry, Hennessey is also known in the business world for his brilliance in the financial market which is a reputation he earned during his time with Shearson Lehman Brothers in 1986 and ultimately opening and managing his own securities brokerage and investment banking firm which he sold in 1999.

With state-of-the-art technology and a leader like Ed Hennessey, Cleantech Biofuels may quickly become a household name.

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Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 4:32 pm

CleanTech Biofuels, Inc. (CLTH.OB) Adds Value by Cleaning & Separating

CleanTech Biofuels, Inc. (CLTH.OB) is taking a step at reducing the amount of waste communities dispose of into landfills. From the 250 million tons of garbage American produce annually, about 14% is burned at combustion facilities while 32% are composted or recycled. Rather than placing the remaining 54% of municipal solid waste (MSW) directly into landfills, CleanTech has a set of technologies that is capable of converting the cellulosic material in MSW into locally produced biofuels. One main element of the process is CleanTech’s Pressurized Stem Classification (PSC) technology that separates and cleans the usable material.

MSW consists of a variety of waste material from air conditioners to yard waste to aluminum cans. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, 50 to 60 percent of MSW is made of cellulosic material that can be converted into usable biofuels. Currently, the only operating waste-to-energy facilities use pick and pull lines to separate the material that is burned to produce electricity. Unfortunately, high levels of toxins are present in the output from the burning process that requires sophisticated, high-cost scrubbers and cleaners to keep air quality within local, state and federal requirements.

CleanTech’s PSC technology uses a steam classification process to separate and clean various types of MSW. The MSW is first placed on a tipping floor where oversized bulky items, such as furniture and appliances, are removed by hand. The remaining material is placed into a PSC vessel that is sealed and pressurized. The MSW is then agitated, like in a washing machine, while steam is injected into the vessel. The excess moisture and volatiles are then vented and captured for destruction at the end of the process.

After the vessel is depressurized, the sterile material is conveyed to shaker screens that separate the materials into specific groups. A large portion of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is strategically separated. The VOCs are then burned in a standard thermal oxidizer to avoid the release of any toxins into the atmosphere. Steel, glass, and aluminum are recovered and sold for reuse. Any of the non-solid material placed into the PSC vessel is transformed into a cellulosic mass, called Processed Engineered Fuel (PEF), with the same consistency as compost and a moisture content of about 50%. The PEF is easily separated in the separation process as it falls through the shaker screens and is then converted into ethanol.

CleanTech has found that less than 20% of the original MSW is typically sent to a landfill. Amazingly the PSC technology allows a facility to recover between 80-90 percent of the original MSW for commercial use. The CleanTech technology is benefiting the environment in a number of ways – creating raw material for the production of ethanol, reducing the amount of toxins being released into the atmosphere through its VOC processing, and increasing the amount of recyclable materials for reuse. CleanTech has definitely found a way to turn trash into something useful.

Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:02 pm

CleanTech Biofuels, Inc. (CLTH.OB) Recognizes Missouri for Meeting Mandatory Renewable Portfolio Standards

Today after the closing bell, CleanTech Biofuels gave special recognition to Missouri for adopting Proposition C, Renewable Portfolio Standards, which requires the state’s three large investor-owned utilities to generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2021. With Missouri now onboard, over half the U.S. States have adopted Renewable Portfolio Standards.

The approval of this initiative tightens the voluntary standards that the Missouri legislature passed last year. The previous legislature only obligated companies to make “good-faith efforts” to reach a goal of 11 percent renewables by 2020. The overwhelming support behind this initiative demonstrates the voting public’s strong favor of developing local sources of energy, with more than 66% of the votes cast in favor of adoption.

CleanTech is currently focused on implementing its technology for the production of renewable biomass from municipal solid waste at a commercial site in Chicago, Illinois. Other sites for commercial development are also being evaluated by the company.