Environmental energy company USA Synthetic Fuel Corporation (USFC) has signed an agreement with New York-based institutional investor Kodiak Capital Group, in terms of which Kodiak has committed to invest up to $20-million over a six-month period, subject to certain conditions, at the company’s discretion.

USFC is focused on building ultraclean British thermal unit (BTU) converters designed to enable the US’s solid hydrocarbon resources to be transformed into low-cost synthetic fuel (synfuel) products such as pipeline-quality synthetic natural gas, transportation fuel (diesel, jet, and petrol), hydrogen and electricity.

“We are pleased to receive this commitment from Kodiak, a well respected team that has shown confidence in our growth strategy. “This agreement provides added flexibility to raise addi- tional capital, at very short notice, at a modest discount. The availability of additional working capital will help us grow the business strategically as we leverage our relationships,” said USFC president and CEO Dr Steven C Vick.

Further, the company is in the process of advancing two projects at which the BTU technology will be used. The Lima Energy Project is being designed to convert solid hydrocarbon feedstock into synthetic gas (syngas) and electrical power, and may produce hydrogen and liquid transportation fuels as by-products. When fully operational, the project, based in Lima, in Ohio, US, is designed to produce eight-million barrels a year of syn- gas and 516 MW of electrical power. The project includes the precombustion capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) that will be compressed into a liquid and sold to a third party, which will sequester the CO2 in a carbon capture and storage (CCS) programme.

In addition, the Cleantech Energy project has been designed as an ultraclean gasification and BTU conversion facility, located near a source of hydrocarbons in Wyoming, US, and should produce 30.6-million barrels a year of pipeline-quality syngas. The project will also capture CO2 produced during syngas manufacture, and will use it in enhanced oil recovery operations or CCS applications.

Further, USFC’s BTU converters are in development and are designed to produce 100 000 bbl/d of low-cost synfuel. The company has established the long-term business objective of manufacturing and delivering two-million barrels a day of low-cost synfuel in the US by 2030.

The company intends to use the proceeds of this transaction for general working capital, including advancing the Lima Energy and Cleantech Energy ultraclean BTU converter projects.

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