ISSAQUAH – An Issaquah-based corporation thrilled spectators Wednesday at a demonstration of its new technology that turns garbage into fuel.
The system mimics the Earth's process for making fossil fuels in an instant.
The demonstration went off without a hitch, but a little research revealed a few hitches and more.
GreenPower Inc. says they can make high-quality diesel oil in a matter of minutes from a pile of plain, old garbage.
"We really can convert regular household waste, medical waste, anything that is not radioactive, metal glass or porcelain, into diesel fuel," said Michael Spitzauer, CEO, GreenPower Inc.
The process begins with garbage being fed into a shredder. What comes out the other side is not recognizable as household garbage anymore and it definitely is not recognizable as a fuel source.
But technicians say by mixing it with a special catalyst, they can pour it into a mobile demonstration unit and the process begins.
A company animation explains what happens next. It's complicated, but basically it heats the garbage goo to about 700 degrees, pressure results and, voila, fuel.
This little system mimics the Earth's own process for making fossil fuels in an instant.
"We reduce 300 million years conversion time for crude oil production to 3 minutes," said Dr. Christian Koch, inventor.
A spokesman says the process is so successful, big oil tried to take it away.
The demonstration impressed the City of Cheyenne, Wyoming so much it was ready to sign an agreement for GreenPower to set up shop there, but then they did some checking and the deal fell through.
They found evidence that CEO Michael Spitzauer was convicted of fraud in his home country of Austria.
KING 5 obtained legal documents that Spitzauer was convicted in federal court in Seattle of providing false information on his immigration papers.
Some scientists question the basic concept of turning trash to diesel with any technology, but Wednesday he showed the public how diesel, made in his machine from garbage, could fuel a standard diesel truck producing sweet smelling emissions.
Now he'll try to convince Tacoma city officials to let him set up a major refinery there.
The company hopes to set up its first of 1,500 plants in the U.S. in Tacoma, the rest in other cities over the next five to seven years.

 

You can make diesel from practically any organic source using the FT process (eg http://www.choren.com/en/). What smells a bit fishy is that they can do it in minutes.