Washington, DC – Mark Brown, CEO of WastAway, shared his company’s proven fuel technology and path forward for a more sustainable use of coal during a special presentation to leadership of the United States Energy Association (USEA) here today.
“We’re providing a sustainable and environmentally sound approach to more cleanly utilizing coal,” Brown said. “The research is complete, and real-world testing has proven what our fuel can deliver.”
Describing the five-year testing and analysis program his Tennessee-based waste-to-fuel company implemented to verify performance of their SE3™ Engineered Fuel product, Brown said he and his board of directors knew it would be necessary to make such an investment to launch a waste-derived fuel and gain acceptance from coal-fired generating operators.
“When a generation company has a billion-dollar operating asset in place, they are not going to put that at risk to test a new sustainable fuel. We knew the time and expense to do that was our responsibility if we wanted to get our product into the marketplace,” Brown said.
The fuel, derived from municipal solid waste through a patented process originally developed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has a high BTU value, is pathogen-free and proven to have consistent performance when co-fired with coal in large scale generating equipment.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a Comfort Letter regarding the SE3™ Engineered Fuel designating it as non-waste fuel and providing Non Hazardous Secondary Material (NHSM) status.
“Just one of our WastAway facilities can provide hundreds of tons of clean, safe fuel each day while giving communities a process that diverts up to 90% of their garbage away from landfills,” Brown said. “That’s a win for coal users, a win for the community, and a win for the environment.”
The USEA Annual Membership Meeting & Public Policy Forum highlights industry achievements and developments in energy policy. Other speakers included Joe Manchin, United States Senator from West Virginia, and Andrew Wheeler, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.