EnerTech interested in helping build first carbon neutral city

January 1, 1970

BY Bryan Sims

Web exclusive posted May 19, 2008 at 5:40 p.m. CST

Atlanta, Ga.-based EnerTech Environmental Inc. has expressed interest to build a SlurryCarb™ demonstration facility in the planned city of Masdar City located near Abu Dhabi. A city for the future, Masdar City will rely entirely on solar energy and other renewable energy sources with a sustainable, zero-carbon, car-free, zero-waste ecology.

EnerTech has signed an Expression of Interest to build and operate the demonstration facility that will utilize the company's patented SlurryCarb process, according to EnerTech spokesman Brian Dooley. The SlurryCarb technology will convert biosolids – or sewage sludge – produced from the permanent buildings erected during Masdar City's first phase, as well as from the accommodation from the several thousand workers building Masdar City between 2008 and 2016. The project would be a collaborative effort also involving the Masdar CleanTech Fund, a $250 million global investment initiative focused on building renewable energy projects worldwide.

Biosolids from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, the workers' accommodation and the headquarters of Masdar will use the SlurryCarb's coproduct renewable fuel called "E-fuel". The demonstration facility would be the first step towards installing a permanent SlurryCarb facility in the city. February 9 Masdar broke ground for Masdar City.

Designed by the British architectural firm Foster + Partners, Masdar City is being constructed 11 miles southeast of the city of Abu Dhabi, next to the Abu Dhabi International Airport. By applying scale and leveraging Abu Dhabi's low-cost, tax-free manufacturing base, businesses will enjoy significant competitive advantages, allowing the city to compete internationally and provide significant diversification to the Abu Dhabi economy.

EnerTech is part of a select group of leading global companies that have been invested in by Masdar through the Masdar CleanTech Fund which focuses on the development and commercialization of technologies in renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon management and monetization, water usage and desalination.

Initiated in 2006, the project is estimated to cost $22 billion and will take approximately eight years to build, with the first phase scheduled for completion and habitation by 2009.


The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), which will be assisted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will also be located in Masdar City. Automobiles will be banned within the city; travel will be accomplished via public mass transit and personal rapid transit systems, with existing road and railways connecting to other locations outside the city.

Notable partners in the Masdar City project through its CleanTech Fund include General Electric, BP, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Mitsubishi, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd., Total S.A., Mitsui and Fiat. CH2M HILL is managing the first phase of construction; design of the central Masdar headquarters building has been awarded to Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.

Currently, EnerTech has a SlurryCarb facility under construction in Rialto, Calif. When completed the facility will daily convert approximately 883 wet tons of biosolids from five municipalities in the Los Angeles region into 167 dry tons of renewable fuel. The renewable fuel, or E-Fuel, will be used by a local cement kiln as an alternative to coal.

For more information on EnerTech Environmental Inc. and its projects, visit http://www.enertech.com/index.html. To learn more about the Clean Tech Energy Fund and its objectives, visit http://www.masdarctf.com/.

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