New Sky Energy in New Partnership for
Scalable CO2 Capture

New Sky Energy in Boulder has entered into a sponsored research agreement  with the Colorado School of Mines to build a fully operating, scalable model of New Sky’s electro-chemical and carbon capture technology.

The joint project will proceed under a 1-year, $200,000 Sponsored Research Agreement funded by the Boulder cleantech firm. The project will allow New Sky and Mines to rapidly develop a showcase facility that implements its technology to capture and convert CO2 into useful products.

New Sky Energy’s process is  capturing and converting CO2 into useful chemical feed stocks. Using a proprietary chemical process, the company scrubs CO2 from the air, flue gas or other exhausts and converts it into competitively-priced, chemically stable solids widely used in industry and agriculture.

Abound Solar Signs Deal with Montreal
Recycling Company

Loveland-based Abound Solar has inked a memorandum of understanding with 5N Plus Inc. (Montreal, Quebec), to recycle solar modules and scrap produced by the PV manufacturer. The output consists of recyclable glass and raw chemicals, ready to be processed into new finished products. Abound Solar will also receive semiconductor compounds from 5N Plus which will be used used to manufacture the company’s next-generation thin-film solar modules.

“Abound Solar modules are produced using the most environmentally friendly production process in the industry,” said Abound Solar President and CEO Tom Tiller. “This extension of our relationship with 5N Plus will ensure that at end-of-life, our modules will be recycled in the most sustainable manner and secure a long-term supply for our raw materials.”

Sundrop Fuels Seeks Funding for World’s First Solar-Powered Biorefinery

Louisville-based Sundrop Fuels, Inc. claims it has perfected a solar-energy technology capable of producing 100 million gallons of synthetic gasoline annually from corn stalks and wood chips.

Now it is looking to raise between $100 million and $150 million to build the world’s first solar-powered biorefinery. That demonstration project could make 7 million to 8 million gallons of gas a year.  The company says that it has already demonstrated it can generate synethic gas using the solar heat with its 60-foot tower above a 3,000-mirror solar array near Highway 7 and I25.

“We want to use the sun to make renewable fuel,” said Wayne Simmons, Sundrop’s CEO. “We’re going to convert the sun’s energy into liquid fuel using concentrated solar power to gasify biomass, then convert the biomass into gasoline or diesel.”

Experts say the nascent technology has the potential to revolutionize the biofuels industry because it removes one of the long-term cost hurdles to creating fuel from organic waste.

Sundrop’s technology essentially blasts organic materials like straw and wood chip with super elevated temperatures gathered from sunshine. The heat tears the material apart on a molecular level, adds the sun’s heat energy in the thermo-chemical reaction, and creates a synthetic gas that can be formed into gasoline or diesel fuel.

The company has not indicated what type of instrument it would use for raising the capital.