Arch Coal and ADA-ES have announced that the two companies have finalised the exclusive development and licensing agreement for a promising ADA-ES technology aimed at reducing combustion-related emissions of mercury and other metals from PRB coal. In consideration for certain ADA development work and the exclusive license to Arch, ADA-ES will receive an upfront payment of $2 million and royalty payments that could amount to as much as $1/t of coal sold by Arch, depending upon the successful implementation of the technology and Arch’s future sales of the resulting enhanced coal product.
Mike Durham, ADA President and CEO, stated, “This technology will be complementary to our other innovative technologies such as CyClean, FGC, and different activated carbons that provide us with the tools to help our power generating customers to meet the challenges of existing and pending emissions control regulations.”
Arch has been a significant shareholder of ADA since 2003 when the company spun-out as a separate public entity. Arch currently produces more than 100 Mt of PRB coal per year. Arch President and Chief Operating Officer John Eaves, commented, “As part of our commitment to clean energy, we are pleased to provide this additional investment in ADA, a leader in developing clean coal technology. We believe helping finance advanced technologies developed by ADA will enhance the environmental performance of our coals.”
ADA has been successful at developing technologies that improve the performance of PRB coals, including flue gas conditioning (FGC) chemicals used to aid in the collection of ash from PRB coals. The company also developed a cost-effective brominated activated carbon technology that provides a means of achieving 90% removal of mercury emissions from PRB coals, as well as CyClean technology, a proprietary coal additive that improves combustion of PRB coals in cyclone boilers resulting in enhanced efficiency and reduced emissions of mercury and nitrogen oxides. Since 2004, ADA has been working with Arch to explore certain unique characteristics of some types of coals produced by Arch that allow them to be burned with lower emissions. A recent technical breakthrough provides a potential means to obtain similar performance improvements from all of Arch’s PRB coals.