Silverado Green Fuel is creating liquid coal fuel for cars at half the cost of oil
Coal is a dirty word. Coal is also a four letter word. That is never going to change, or is it? If Silverado Green Fuels has its way, it just might. I don't have a great understanding of coal power to begin with, and reading this information didn't help too much. But, from what I can tell, the reason they are referring to this as a green fuel is that the fuel burns clean, giving a "carbon burnout of over 99%", as opposed to 97 percent for standard coal in their tests. Additionally, the fuel is cheap, because they are able to use a type of coal previously unwanted. The coal they use contains much higher concentrations of water than more desirable coal types, and the water is reused in the making of the liquid fuel. It appears that the main use of this "Greenfuel" is for burners set up to use coal gasification. I will take a "wait and see" attitude towards this new fuel, but if what they are claiming is true, the U.S. in particular could gain much from the use of this new fuel source.
The company has set up operations in Mississippi and has begun building a plant in that state. The Department of Defense plans to purchase fuel from this new plant, and the Department of Energy is keeping tabs on their progress.
[Source: Silverado Green Fuels via News.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
K A Harvey 8:02PM (6/09/2008)
I hope & wish every success in this as in New Zealand a power company is trying to talk the people into using the coal for power generation which can be done many ways (co2 pumped underground)but I beleive all fossil fuels should be used for mobil fuel as cars trucks and small ships the rest can be nuclear someday if need be.
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p-cubed 11:54PM (3/29/2007)
Green my ass. It is a fossil fuel, at best. The good thing about running out of oil is the potential for reducing the carbon footprint.There is no "green" way to facilitate the net release of carbon into the atmosphere.
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Tormod Henne 4:44AM (3/30/2007)
Well, it saves that extra fuel needed for warfare to secure oil reserves abroad. And the money paid for this oil does not go to terrorists.
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Nils 5:49AM (3/30/2007)
Another company greenwashed themselves...
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Ian 8:45AM (3/30/2007)
If Gore doesn't own the process it can't be good;)
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Tim 9:35AM (3/30/2007)
Ian- Wow, we sure are lucky that Al (Chicken Little) Gore invented the internet so we can all enjoy this blog!!
Anyway, "coal" may be a dirty word, but "security" is not. Saving money sounds pretty good to me too.
When we go to war with Iran (we have to because they broke the 1972 agreement by now accepting Euros for thier oil instead of only accepting dollars), we will need all the energy alternatives we can get. I just hope that once the overprinted and inflated dollar crashes, we can afford fuel.
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Howard Lee Harkness 10:28AM (3/30/2007)
Am I the only one to notice the bogus chemical symbols in the illustration?
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obewan 9:03AM (5/22/2007)
The best plans for liquid coal advocate the use of nuclear power at the refinery. That said, liquid coal is greener than ethanol or biodiesel and less polluting than conventional diesel. We only have 30+ years left on conventional oil and need to get going soon on all available options. The global warming problem will correct itself when we run out of fuel too if we live to see it.
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Brent 5:37PM (6/17/2007)
Dr. Warrick Wilson has been working on this one of at least 30 years. Longer than most on the Internet have been alive. 1970's may have some eerie similarities to today. It may serve us well to look back and see that the price at the pump then, is where were headed today. Adjusted for inflation, we are going bankrupt. $15 a barrel is at least a start from getting out of the mess we are in financially here in this US. Natural resources are all we have so we should use them wisely. Dr. Wilson and the Team at Silverado have what it takes to do just that. For those who think using corn or wheat or sugar for fuel, may need to know or feel what it's like to go hungry. I do and have.
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jayson 10:40PM (10/31/2007)
Silverado is a perfect example of the worst of the worst when it comes to mining and fuel prodution. It has a classic scam artist CEO that has been using this POS for his inflated living much the same way a pimp uses his whores. All you can wait for now is the inevitable reverse split to alllow him a few more years of free loading off his shareholders. Anybody who touches this stock has mush for brains and will deserve his ultimate loss. It is one thing to get scammed before public knowledge is out but now you can rename yourself a lemming for getting involved. The entire company is laughable. Welcome to the used car lot!
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jared 8:37PM (12/07/2007)
This is a total scam. The ceo just hired his wife and made her vice-president yet never disclosed to the shareholders that it is indeed his wife.. Opulent offices, broken promises, year after year. Anyone investing in silverado deserves to lose their shirt..
All the message boards are ladened with insider information , obviously paid to post by silverado investor relations. This is a total pump and dump scam from Vancouver. Beware. Beware Beware.
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David 7:31PM (12/08/2007)
Silverado Green Fuel Inc. digs up low grade lignite coal, cooks it to drain its water, adds water back to produce an oily gook that they have the gall to call "Green Fuel". They want to build a "Strategic Fuel Ecoplex" in Mississippi. The Green Fuel isn't good for much- you have to make an atomized spray out of it, so it could be used in oil-fired power stations, of which there are few.
However the next stop in the ecoplex is to turn the Green Fuel into synthetic natural gas, which can be done, with one small hitch- "gasification and liquefaction process releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and will also require a large increase in coal mining "with all the environmental problems which that entails."
Silverado admits that gasification produces four times as much CO2 as just burning the coal straight, but "There is such as huge market and such a high demand that there cannot be enough coal-to-liquid plants built in this country," ie- global warming be damned, we have to drive to the mall.
We will give them credit- only a genius could invent the term "Strategic Fuel Ecoplex" for a coal-to-gas refinery- that and "Green Fuel" give new meaning to the term "Greenwashing".
Otherwise this is one project that should be deeply sequestered.
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