Archive News
Sierra Energy Selected as AlwaysOn Top 250
March 2010
Sierra Energy is proud to announce their inclusion in the AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies list.
Sierra Energy is attending the AlwaysOn Going Green Silicon Valley conference on October 12-14, 2010 taking place at the Presidio of San Francisco.
Sierra Energy begins Construction of its Mk 4 Functional Prototype
April 2010
Hot on the heels of the successful testing of Sierra Energy’s Mk 3 proof of concept unit, Sierra Energy has begun construction of its Mk 4 functional prototype. The Mk 4, which is currently in final fabrication, will allow Sierra Energy to optimize its new FASTOX™ injection nozzles, as well as allow further steady-state testing by the Renewable Energy Testing Center (“RETC”) of a wide variety of feedstocks.
Sierra Energy’s next testing campaign will introduce the testing of a variety of feedstocks such as municipal solid waste, agricultural waste, shredded tires, shredded railroad ties, and medical waste. Sierra Energy is also accepting applications from interested partners for the testing of additional feedstocks. These tests, to be conducted at the RETC on behalf of the United States Department of Defense will establish the productivity, gas value, and environmental impacts for each feedstock tested.
Sierra Energy expects to commission its Mk 4 unit by the end of May, with the first round of testing to begin shortly thereafter in June. Sierra Energy expects that the RETC will complete its testing of the MK 4 with white papers being released by the Department of Defense by fall 2010.
Sierra Energy hires Roger Dell as Director of Finance
March 2010
Sierra Energy welcomes Roger Dell as Sierra Energy’s Director of Finance. Mr. Dell brings to Sierra Energy a 20-year career as an operator, investor and financier and developer of energy projects.
Mr. Dell joins Sierra Energy after having served as Chief Operating Officer and Director of Finance for CLC Incorporated, a Sacramento area provider of access to legal and financial services which he joined in 2003.
Prior to joining CLC, Mr. Dell served as the Asia-Pacific co-head of Business Development for the consumer banking division of Citigroup, which he joined from GE Capital, Singapore in 1999. Mr. Dell’s 10-year career with GE Capital began in Stamford, CT with assignments in the Structured Finance Group providing capital to projects in the group’s $11B energy portfolio. In 1992 he established that business in Southeast Asia, and later the GE Equity Group, GE’s private equity arm. He began his career in 1985 as a mechanical engineer with the Resource Recovery Systems division of Combustion Engineering, a unit of Asea Brown Boveri, later moving into their project finance unit.
Mr. Dell holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree from Bucknell University.
Sierra Energy hires Laura Carroll as Manager of Projects and Engineering
March 2010
Laura Carroll joins Sierra Energy as Sierra Energy’s manager of projects and engineering. Ms. Carroll joins Sierra Energy after having three years as a civil and environmental engineer in Sacramento, California.
Ms. Carroll holds a B.S in civil and environmental engineering from University of California Davis. Her focus of study was based sustainable design and cradle to cradle effects of the transportation, manufacturing, food, and waste industries.
Michael Hart, Sierra Energy’s CEO, interviewed on Meet the Planet
October 2009
Michael Hart, Sierra Energy’s CEO, is interviewed on Meet the Planet, a national radio talk-show dedicated to raising the level of awareness and finding positive and educated solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing our world today.
Sierra Energy Completes Testing of its Mk 3 Proof of Concept Unit
March 2009
Sierra Energy has completed more than 70 hours of testing of its FASTOX™ process, with an additional 20-30 hours of subsystem calibration. Testing has established that Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™ process significantly increases productivity (burden consumption rate per unit volume, per unit time, and per unit oxygen flow) compared with conventional ‘blown air’ operation while at the same time improving the BTU value of produced offgas.
Testing has thus far focused on creating working scaled-units of existing industry equipment that conventionally use dry, compressed air. Sierra Energy’s scaled-units were first validated in compressed air mode against industry data and theoretical heat and mass balances. The test units were then reconfigured to operate in advanced FASTOX™ mode and the results were directly compared with earlier tests.
The results demonstrate that Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™ process increases specific productivity (feedstock consumption per unit-time and unit-gasifier-volume) by over 400%. The results also demonstrate a 180% increase in the quality of the syngas produced. Sierra Energy is confident that these results are scalable and applicable to industry applications.
Sierra Energy to begin Testing its Mk 3 Proof of Concept Unit
September 2009
Sierra Energy has completed construction of its third unit—the Mk 3 (proof of concept) unit. Sierra Energy’s Mk 3 unit is intended to allow swift burden optimization and analysis and viewing of the gasification process while optimizing gas flows (to be recorded via High-Definition video and camera photography). Sierra Energy’s Mk 3 will allow operators to observe, first-hand and visually, the effects of burden and gas optimization.
Sierra Energy’s Mk 3 unit employs oxygen and steam delivery systems designed and fabricated to allow mass flow control with an emphasis on safety and calibration repeatability. In essence, they are simplified versions of the final O2 and steam delivery hardware that will be used in all pilot-plant and brownfield industry retrofit applications.
Sierra Energy is scheduled to begin testing using its Mk 3 unit later this month.
Sierra Energy’s Mike Hart Selected to Present as Part of the CEO Showcase at AlwaysOn’s Going Green West Conference.
September 2009
Sierra Energy has been selected as a presenter for the CEO Showcasefor AlwaysOn’s GoingGreen West conference to be held September 14th-16th, 2009 at Cavallo Point, San Francisco, California.
GoingGreen West is where cutting-edge greentech CEOs meet the movers and shakers from the biggest industries on earth. Green technology innovators are transforming trillion dollar industries – and the solutions they are delivering not only promise to clean up pollution and restore ecosystems, but also to bring abundance and prosperity to everyone on earth. In fundamental areas, water, energy and land, resource abundance is just around the corner, through the power of technology and free markets. This two-and-a-half-day executive event features CEO presentations and high-level debates on the most promising emerging green technologies and new entrepreneurial opportunities.
Sierra Energy Completes Testing of its MK 2 Injector Simulator II Unit.
September 2009
Sierra Energy has completed testing using its Mk 2 (Injector Simulator II) unit capable of consuming 0.5 tons of burden per day and intended to allow the optimization of steam and oxygen injection ratios. Sierra Energy’s Mk 2 unit which was designed with two FASTOX™ nozzles and gas injection tuyeres, ports for syngas sample extraction, thermocouple temperature profiling, and a ‘taphole’ (for removing liquefied ‘slag’ and alloyed metals during operation). Sierra Energy’s Mark II also has a double-gate charging system into the top of the gasifier stack and a topgas offtake pipe for the safe flaring of gas prior to exhaust extraction via hoods to a baghouse.
Sierra Energy’s testing using its Mk 2 unit allowed Sierra to compare charge rates for compressed air and FASTOX™ operations, allowing Sierra Energy to determine the optimum steam and oxygen ratio for FASTOX™ operation.
United States Department of Defense Selects Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™ Process for Testing at the Renewable Energy Testing Center
May 2009
Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™ process has been selected by the United States Department of Defense for testing at the Renewable Energy Testing Center (“RETC”), a renewable energy testing and validation center located at McClellan Park, California and operated under contract with Technikon LLC.
The RETC’s objective is to provide government and industry with an independent commercialization accelerator for evaluating the performance of renewable energy and renewable fuels technologies with respect to robustness, safety, energy efficiency, environmental effectiveness, and other key performance specifications. The RETC brings together technology developers, government entities, and universities with the oversight of RETC staff in a facility that allows the kind of testing needed to bring renewable energy systems to the commercialization phase.
Sierra Energy Completes Testing of its Mk 1 Injector Simulator Unit
March 2009
Sierra Energy has completed testing using its Mk 1 (injector simulator) unit. Sierra Energy’s Mk 1 unit was designed with a single FASTOX™ to allow observation of the initial partial oxidation process (“gasification”) on a carbonaceous bed of uniform burden, to allow further development and optimization of Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™ co-axial injection nozzle design, and to allow experimentation with gasifier integration.
Sierra Energy’s testing using its Mk 1 unit proved that consistent syngas can be formed with a single FASTOX™ nozzle. Sierra Energy expects to begin testing its Mark II (Injector Simulator II) unit later this summer.
Sierra Energy Completes Testing Procedures for full-scale FASTOX™ Testing in China
June 2008
Dr. David Wakelin, editor of Making, Shaping and Treating of Steel has completed the preparation of safety plans for the full-scale testing of Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™ process.Dr. Wakelin has also consulted to Sierra Energy on topics such as refractory, instrumentation, gas systems, charging systems, among other things. His advice will be valuable as Sierra Energy moves onto lab testing.
Heat & Mass Calculations Establish Viability of Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™ Process
May 2008
Dr. Wei-Kao Lu of the industry-recognized McMaster University in Canada has completed heat and mass balance calculations for Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™ process, establishing that the process provides adequate heat in both the lower and upper blast furnace regions to drive the process and to produce hot metal.
Dr. Lu’s calculations also established that FASTOX™ with pulverized coal injection (PCI) allows a significant reduction in the use of metallurgical coke over that of conventional PCI operations, providing a great benefit to the environment. In addition, Dr. Lu’s calculations established that FASTOX™ creates a dramatic reduction in ascending gas volume at the 1000° C isotherm line. These factors reveal that even greater reductions in the use of metallurgical coke are likely with further reductions in permeability.
In addition to metallurgical coke savings, Dr. Lu’s calculations established an approximate 50% increase in the number of kg-moles, and in the energy value, of ascending reducing gases per ton of hot metal when using FASTOX with PCI versus conventional PCI operation, resulting in a likely dramatic increase in productivity and the usability of the gas produced.
Sierra Energy Partners with Berry Metal Company for Berry for the Fabrication of Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™nozzles
March 2008
Sierra Energy has partnered with Berry Metal Company of Harmony, Pennsylvania, the recognized world leader in the design and manufacture of oxygen injection lances for the steelmaking industry. Over its nearly 50 years in business, Berry Metal Company has earned a reputation not only for quality products but also for its technical services and repair capability. Berry Metal is creating and developing the conditions for players in the steel industry to identify and implement changes that benefit them immediately. Berry Metal Company is taking the lead in establishing partnerships with technological innovators around the world, with the goal of delivering tomorrow’s technology for companies to use today.
Berry Metal Company will finalize the design of Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™ nozzles and fabricate and install the nozzles as part of the retrofit of existing full-scale blast furnace testing.
Chinese Iron and Steel Companies Invite Sierra Energy to Test FASTOX™ Process on Chinese Blast Furnaces
January 2008
Sierra Energy has just completed in-depth meetings in the People’s Republic of China with engineers from Shanghai Baosteel Group Corporation, its subsidiary Xinjiang Bayi Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., and Jinan Iron & Steel Group Corporation, as well as with representatives from the Chinese government, worker’s unions, steel institutes, and universities. Following these meetings, Sierra Energy has been invited to conduct full-scale testing of its FASTOX™ process on blast furnaces located in China.
“We are thrilled to have been invited to test our FASTOX™ process in China,” said Michael Hart, President & CEO of Sierra Energy. “We have agreed to conduct various preliminary calculations and tests in North America before returning to China for full-scale testing.”
The parties have identified candidate blast furnaces as well as the steps needed prior to full-scale testing. The parties anticipate that Sierra’s FASTOX™ process will enable iron and steel manufacturers to dramatically increase their production of iron while reducing environmental impacts.
Sierra Energy Partners with McWong Environmental and Energy Group for the commercialization of Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™ Process in China
January 2008
Sierra Energy has partnered with McWong Environmental and Energy Group, an environmental and energy company with offices in the United States and China. McWong possesses an experienced staff with backgrounds in environmental, mechanical, electrical and automation control engineering. McWong provides clients with project evaluations, process designs, project engineering services, foreign and local equipment supply and operational management services
Through this collaboration, Sierra Energy and McWong expect to economically retrofit existing blast furnaces with Sierra Energy’s FASTOX™ technology, dramatically increasing blast furnace production capacity and top-gas value and usefulness while at the same time improving the environmental impacts of the iron making process.
Sierra Energy’s internationally patented FASTOX™ process incorporates several proprietary changes to conventional and coal injection blast furnaces and can easily retrofit existing blast furnaces. The required changes are minimal and cost effective, allowing iron makers to dramatically improve their costs and production while reducing process pollution.
Sierra Energy Hires Daniel Dodd as Vice President of Engineering
October 2007
Sierra Energy welcomes Daniel Dodd as Sierra Energy’s Vice President of Engineering.
Prior to joining Sierra Energy, Mr. Dodd conducted engineering work for Goodrich Aerospace Corp., Bridgestone UK Ltd., Atkins Engineering Consultants, The European Space Agency (ESA), and Turbine Generation Ltd. In 2003 Mr. Dodd was awarded the prestigious Engineering Leadership Award Scholarship from the Royal Academy of Engineering in London, England.
Mr. Dodd has a Masters of Engineering, with first class honors, in aerospace and mechanical engineering from the University of Bristol in England.
Sierra Energy’s internationally patented FASTOX™ process incorporates several proprietary changes to conventional and coal injection blast furnaces and can easily retrofit existing blast furnaces. The required changes are minimal and cost effective, allowing iron makers to dramatically improve their costs and production while reducing process pollution.
Sierra Energy is Selected as Demo Company for AlwaysOn’s 2007 Going Green Executive Summit
September 2007
Sierra Energy has been selected as one of 22 demonstration companies for AlwaysOn’s 1st annual GoingGreen Executive Summit to be held September 10-12, 2007 at the Mondavi Center located at the University of California, Davis.
GoingGreen 2007 is AlwaysOn’s inaugural green technology conference where over seven hundred greentech professionals, venture capital and private-equity investors, and leading members of the press and blogging community are scheduled to convene for presentations and high-level debates on the most promising emerging green technologies and trends. Thousands more worldwide attendees are expected to participate virtually as GoingGreen 2007 will be webcast free of charge around the globe.