Tampa, FL, May 20--EarthFirst Technologies announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, World Environmental Solutions Company, Inc. (WESCO), has entered into a Carbon Purchase Agreement with Dalton, Georgia-based Universal Textile Technologies, Inc. (UTT), one of the nation's leading suppliers of advanced and innovative technologies to the carpet and synthetic turf industries.
UTT has committed to purchase a minimum of three million pounds of CP-200 Carbon per year. CP-200 Carbon is a byproduct of EarthFirst's proprietary tire remediation process driven by the company's Catalytic Activated Vacuum Distillation (CAVD) technology. The CP-200 Carbon is for use in developing a proprietary carbon/polymer technology that can be used in many different areas of the carpet industry.
Larry Mashburn, a senior manager at UTT said, "Following an extensive review, we selected the carbon produced by EarthFirst's CAVD process because of its favorable physical and chemical properties that we believe will provide for a high quality and cost effective carbon/polymer. Moreover, CP-200 handily meets the strict environmental criteria that UTT insists all its technology, today and future, must address."
"Should the UTT/WESCO carbon/polymer alternative be embraced by the carpet industry, there would be a need to expand from one tire remediation plant to several plants to address the demand for our carbon. We are hopeful that occurs and look forward to working closely with UTT to progress towards that aim," stated Leon Toups, chief executive officer of EarthFirst.
EarthFirst's Catalytic Activated Vacuum Distillation (CAVD) Technology was developed to recycle tires and other waste by heating the material without burning it. The technology evolved from the company's close working relationship with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and scientists from the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.
Based on the CAVD technology, EarthFirst's proprietary tire processing system produces usable energy and a broad range of valuable by-products, including steel, carbon, oils similar to kerosene and diesel fuel, and an energy-dense gas.
EarthFirst burns tires in a vacuum at a third of the typical pyrolysis temperature, preserving tire components and satisfying even the strictest emissions regulations (as verified by Oak Ridge). The EarthFirst process relies on proprietary catalysts to convert tires at rapid rates.
From a typical 20-pound passenger tire, EarthFirst's CAVD technology can recover nine pounds of carbon, for the manufacture of polymers; one gallon of oils, which can be used as fuels or industrial process oils; two pounds of steel; and 30 cubic feet of combustible gases to generate electricity. The company's prototype, fully operational plant is located in Mobile, Alabama.
