Company receives an additional $500,000 for further demonstrations of the
Company's StarCell Hydrogen system as Phase Two begins
WILTON, Conn., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Startech Environmental
Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: STHK), a fully reporting company, announced
today that Phase One of the Company's StarCell(TM) contract with the
Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate the production of hydrogen from
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), and also coal, processed through the Plasma
Converter System(TM) is near successful completion. The Company has received
the additional $500,000 for Phase Two of the Program to continue the
demonstrations and development for optimization and scale-up. The work for
Phase Two has begun.
What is StarCell?
Joseph F. Longo, president of Startech said, "StarCell is the Company's
proprietary ceramic filtration system; it is not a fuel cell. It is a patented
hydrogen-selective membrane filter that separates the hydrogen from the Plasma
Converted Gas (PCG)(TM). PCG is the clean synthesis fuel-gas mixture, rich in
free hydrogen, produced by the Plasma Converter System(TM) when it processes
organic wastes.
The Plasma Converter System safely and irreversibly destroys wastes by its
process of molecular dissociation during which it converts those wastes into
valuable commercial products that include PCG. PCG is a valuable syn-gas as
it is, but StarCell increases its value by its ability to extract the
hydrogen. PCG is the key.
Beyond its use with the Plasma Converter System(TM), StarCell can also be
used, stand alone, as a low-cost method of separating hydrogen from the syn-
gas produced by various coal gasification processes.
Applications for StarCell Produced Hydrogen
StarCell-produced hydrogen from PCG can be used in the emerging
'distributed power generation' markets as a low-cost, pristine fuel to power
automotive, stationary and portable fuel cells, as well as Internal Combustion
Engine (ICE) vehicles.
According to the Environmental Protection Administration, not counting
industrial waste, the United States produces about 700,000 tons of municipal
solid waste (MSW) each day. A facility using both a Plasma Converter System
and StarCell to process 2,000 tons of MSW per day can produce enough hydrogen
to power almost 100,000 fuel-cell vehicles driving an average of 11,000 miles
per year for the entire year.
What is fuel cell?
The fuel cell was invented about 150 years ago in England by Sir William
Grove. He called it his 'gaseous battery' to distinguish it from another
invention of his, our every day electric storage battery. The fuel cell is an
electrochemical device that combines hydrogen with oxygen to produce
electricity. Air can even be used as an oxygen source. The principal by
products are water and heat. It is hydrogen that is the fuel in a fuel cell.
It is the bonding together of the hydrogen and oxygen that produces the power
in the form of electricity. The basic process is efficient and pollution
free.
Why is hydrogen important?
The use of hydrogen to power vehicles eliminates tail-pipe pollution and
dependence on foreign oil. Used to produce stationary power, it will help
clean up the air and will be the critical contributor to the development of a
pollution-free "distributed power generation" industry.
Hydrogen, the most pristine of all the fuels, when combined with oxygen to
produce power results in only heat and H2O... water. It produces pollution-
free electricity in fuel cells.
Pound for pound, hydrogen contains more energy than any of the other fuels
by far.
In addition to the importance of the role it will play in clean power, it
is also a basic material used in many industrial processes to make many of the
products we use in our lives every day.
How hydrogen is currently produced
The Sun and stars are almost pure hydrogen. The paradox is that while
hydrogen is the most abundant material in the universe, it is not readily
accessible. Nearly all of the hydrogen produced today is made from fossil
fuels, natural gas among them. These hydrocarbon fossil fuels consist
primarily of molecules made up of carbon any hydrogen. An industrial thermo-
chemical reformation process is one of the methods used to break the hydrogen
away from the carbons. The PCG mixture, however, is rich in free hydrogen.
Hydrogen in your garbage can
Most household and industrial wastes are packed with hydrogen. To make
the point, even landfills can be mined so that the recovered trash can be
processed by the Plasma Converter and StarCell to unlock an abundance of
dormant hydrogen. It is a biomass waiting to be tapped.
Converting renewable resources into hydrogen is an important goal of the
'Hydrogen Economy'. Waste is a valuable, ever-present and increasing
renewable resource. The use of waste for hydrogen will decrease our
dependence on dwindling reserves of fossil fuels.
One objective of achieving a Sustainable Society and meeting the energy
needs of the new millennium is the widespread use of hydrogen as the primary
energy source. In the Hydrogen Economy, hydrogen -- either liquefied or as a
gas -- is the principal source of chemical energy, replacing natural gas,
heating oil, gasoline and other petroleum products. Applications include
electrical generation, industrial process heating, residential heating,
transportation fuel, and many more."
He also said, "Traditional hydrogen-reformation manufacturing processes
require purchases of fossil fuel feed-stocks that impact the cost and
availability of hydrogen. StarCell Hydrogen doesn't have that problem. Our
Plasma Converter market is made up of customers who generate waste, and
customers who process waste. Many wastes are excellent feed-stocks for
hydrogen. Customers who generate waste don't have the feed-stock expense when
PCG is produced; as a matter of fact, they save the money they would otherwise
pay to others to accept their waste. Customers who process waste get paid for
accepting and processing the waste of others, and also produce PCG. In either
case, when the PCG is used in StarCell to produce hydrogen for sale, the
customers can produce it at a much lower cost because they don't have the cost
burden of fossil fuel feed-stock purchases.
Plasma Converters are being sold commercially now. In addition to the
money earned processing waste in the Converter, our customers will also be
able make money using StarCell to sell hydrogen."
About Startech Environmental Corp.
Startech is a Waste Industry company engaged in the production and sale of
its innovative, proprietary plasma processing equipment known as the Plasma
Converter System. The Plasma Converter System safely and economically
destroys wastes, no matter how hazardous or lethal, and turns them into useful
and valuable products. In doing so, the System protects the environment and
helps to improve the public health and safety. The System achieves closed-
loop elemental recycling to safely and irreversibly destroy Municipal Solid
Waste, organics and inorganics, solids, liquids and gases, hazardous and non-
hazardous waste, industrial by-products and also items such as "e-waste,"
medical waste, chemical industry waste and other specialty wastes while
converting them into useful commodity products that can include metals,
surplus energy and also hydrogen for use and for sale.
Startech regards all wastes as valuable renewable resources. Plasma
Converters process, as feed stocks, materials previously regarded as wastes.
For further information, please visit http://www.startech.net or contact
Steve Landa at (888) 807-9443, (203) 762-2499 x148 or sales@startech.net.
Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements regarding the Company's plans and expectations regarding the
development and commercialization of its Plasma Converter(TM) technology. All
forward-looking statements are subject to risk and uncertainties that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Factors that
could cause such a difference include, without limitation, failure of the
customer to obtain appropriate financing for the project, general risks
associated with product development, manufacturing, rapid technological change
and competition as well as other risks set forth in the Company's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements
contained herein speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company
expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any
updates or revisions to any such statement to reflect any change in the
Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on
which any such statement is based.
SOURCE Startech Environmental Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.startech.net
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/113537.html
CONTACT:
Steve Landa of Startech Environmental
Corporation, 1-888-807-9443, +1-203-762-2499 x148 or
sales@startech.net
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