[Bioconversion] Re: Collaboration Proposal

Mon May 15 10:48:26 EDT 2006

Dear Dr. Lynd;

In response; I posted my collaboration proposal to Dr. Antal to the list to 
let the list know I have another biomass gasification technology that I have 
developed and patented and that I am also working in the field ( sudden, 
rapid or quick biomass carbonization) as Dr. Antal and I am seeking suitable 
entities (such as scientists, universities and companies) to collaborate 
with.

As I understand it Prof. Antal is working on automating and scaling up his 
technology whereas my patent is on an automated system that can be scaled to 
any needed throughput capacity.

As I understand it Prof. Antal had received as of 2004 more than $2 million 
provided by the federal government, UH and the private sector whereas I have 
funded my efforts out of my own pocket for under $200,000.

My system has been designed from the beginning to operate 24/7/365 with 
rarely ever or never requiring a total shutdown.

>From the outset my goal has been to demonstrate an automatic refueling 
gasification system that refueled by "batch" stoking bulky biomass fuels up 
to large round ag bales in size; including scrap pallets, scrap tires and 
loose materials such sludges, trash and municipal solid wastes.

Dr. Antal responded to my proposal saying;

Dear Les: I am now extremely busy with scaleup and licensing issues.  I 
offer the constructive suggestion that you focus your collaborations on 
industrial sponsors who are normally responsible for commercialization work. 
Universities are normally not the vehicle to commercialize research. 
Regards, Mcihael.

And I appreciate his suggestion and to which I wrote back saying;

==========================

Dear Dr. Antal,

Well of course I know universities focus on doing research,, rather than 
commercializing technologies that originated in research, but it is my 
understanding that when research universities do research and new 
technologies are discovered that appear to have commercial value, they will 
often cooperate in the commercialization of them if they are co-owners of 
the technology.

I have communicated with Tom Reed and I told him that I was working on an 
automatic refueling gasification system that refueled by "batch" stoking 
biomass fuels up to large round bales in size. This would include scrap 
pallets, scrap tires and loose materials such sludges, trash and municipal 
solid wastes. Dr. Reed offered that he was presently at work on such a 
system himself and had a goal of 24/7 operation but had not achieved his 
goal yet.

What I propose is collaboration with yourself rather than with the 
particular university you are with, although that would not preclude 
collaboration with both yourself and your university and one or more 
industrial sponsors. I am open to most any arrangement.

If you happen to know of any industrial sponsors who I might contact I would 
of course welcome that information if you feel at liberty to disclose it.

========================

I read in a Honolulu Advertiser article; "Dr. Antal and the university hope 
to generate royalties from the technology" so I assume the University of 
Hawaii and other universities are not adverse to collaborations that might 
produce royalties.

Les Blevins
AAEC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lee R. Lynd" <Lee.R.Lynd at Dartmouth.EDU>
To: <lbj4 at mindspring.com>
Cc: <antal at wiliki.eng.hawaii.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 8:39 AM
Subject: Re: [Bioconversion] Re: Collaboration Proposal

Not sure why this got sent to me, although I can recommend Michael Antal 
highly.

Lee

--- You wrote:
Dear Dr. Antal:

I have been reading about your very interesting work in biomass pyrolysis 
and gasification.

I would like to propose collaboration in this field using my Sequential 
Grates system as another possible fuel handling and processing mechanism. 
The primary reason I make this proposal is I feel it (my SG system) may be 
successfully operated in flash carbonization mode and yet flash 
carbonization is something new that I have not even experimented with yet.

I have been seeking collaboration lately in the renewable energy field area, 
in part due to an obvious need for alternative fuels that is suddenly 
drawing so much interest in this highly interesting field. I might add that 
others I have approached say they are already tied down, or are too busy to 
consider my proposal, but let me make it clear that when I proposed similar 
collaboration to them I had not yet read your essay as I just located it 
online today.

If you agree to consider my Sequential Grates (tm) as the object of 
collaboration I have no objections to you having my system replicated for 
testing in Hawaii and if such testing proves successful working together in 
commercialization of it.

The Sequential Grates (tm) system is covered by US Patent # 5,261,335 dated 
Nov. 16, 1993. the title is "FIREBOX FURNACE WITH AUTOMATIC FUEL FEEDING 
SYSTEM". It is fully scaleable to meet the applications requirements.

Best Regards

Les Blevins
Advanced Alternative Energy
1207 N 1800 Rd.
Lawrence, KS 66049
Tele: US-785-842-1943
Email Lbj4 at mindspring.com
Company website http://aaecorp.com/ceo.html

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