May 11 - News Sentinel



In an outbuilding at the far end of Roane County Industrial Park, down a rutted driveway and behind a rehabbed, early 1800s-era log cabin, a local entrepreneur is testing a new technology he believes will be a game-changer when it comes to clean power production.

Proton Power is preparing to market a system that turns cellulose- based feedstock -- such as switchgrass, sawdust and even junk mail - - into hydrogen more efficiently than existing technologies, according to Sam Weaver, cofounder of the company. Weaver is a former Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher and selfdescribed serial entrepreneur.

That hydrogen then can be used to generate power, fuel vehicles or work as part of other hydrogen-fueled processes, he said.

"At the end of the day, we have the first source of cheap hydrogen," Weaver said.

 Depending on the feedstock, according to Weaver, producing electricity costs 5 cents to 15 cents per kilowatt hour -- about 5 cents for wood waste, 8.5 cents for grass clippings or tree limbs and 15 cents for mixed paper -- compared to utility rates of 8 cents to 16 cents per kilowatt hour.

The company is focusing first on the power production business, pitching its system to potential industrial and commercial clients looking to offset power usage and turn waste streams into electrons.

Now in its second prototype, the 10 kilowatt system soon will make way for the latest version, a 35 kilowatt system that will be more compact and ready to deliver to the first customer. Weaver demonstrated the sprawling array of metal, pipes and tubing tobusinessmen, clean energy experts, developers and othersMonday at company headquarters.

The company has talked with several potential buyers and has letters of intent from a local customer whom Weaver would not name as well as a Chinese company considering a $10 million contract with Proton Power.

Self-funded until now, the company also is seeking $5 million to $10 million in outside investment to further fuel the company's growth.

But nothing is a done deal.

"We have a lot of people lined up to buy unit two," Weaver joked.

He said the company also is working with Trane and Bass Electric to develop the consumer market, and companies in the coal liquefaction business -- a technology that uses hydrogen to transform ordinary coal into high-value liquid coal fuel -- also have shown an interest in the technology, Weaver said. The systems can be built small enough to power an individual home and large enough for utility applications, he said.

Weaver would not disclose details of the process itself or explain why the technology can produce a gas with hydrogen content of 65 percent compared to the 15 percent produced by other technologies. The company currently is seeking four patents for the technology.

Given the attendance at Monday's demonstration -- which included representatives from TVA, Clayton Homes, the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee and the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- the technology is getting some serious looks, even if the approach, for now, is wait-and-see.

Larisa Brass is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.

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