FUELS & ENERGY DIVISION

WHO WE ARE:

Prado & Associates and its sister company, Prado Technology Corp., have long been involved with power generation and co-generation projects since their beginnings in the year 1978. In fact, our Fuels & Energy Division originated years ago while cooperating with the Florida Institute of Technology (Melbourne, Florida) in the development of synthetic fuels from biomass. Since then we have been involved in many energy related projects such as the provision of engineering services to Montenay Power Corporation in Miami, a subsidiary of France's La Societé Géneral des Eaux, including the planning of a $200 million capacity expansion. Montenay burns most of metropolitan Miami's municipal solid waste and generates over 80 MW of electric power. This plant includes very sophisticated environmental control systems including electrostatic precipitators, alkaline scrubbers for the removal of sulfur gases, and waste water treatment.

We are currently involved in several biomass-to-energy and ethanol projects in various locations in the US and Canada. The technology consists of high pressure synthesis as recently modified by a group in Mississippi, USA. This project will feature a gasifier/reformed followed by a high pressure reactor which will produce fuel grade ethanol. The option exists for co-generation of electric power to make the operation energy self-sufficient, or even allowing the export of power. The feedstock will consist of biomass such as wood chips, wood waste, bagasse, or agricultural waste by-products. This process is based on the old Fischer-Tropsch process to convert coal into liquid fuels and ethanol. It was successfully implemented at SASOL in South Africa many years ago and has been currently modified by Pearson Technologies (Aberdeen, Mississippi) specifically for the production of ethanol from biomass.

Another area of technology in which we are very active is the production of biodiesel from vegetable oils such as soybean oil. Due to the currently high fuel prices and the tax breaks associated with biodiesel, this has become a very active area of business for us.

WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU:

Our capabilities in the area of power generation energy and fuels include the following:

Economic feasibility studies for new power and energy projects using either conventional or new technologies.
Basic engineering and design for new or revamped facilities.
Detailed engineering and design for new or revamped facilities.
Alkaline scrubber design for the control of sulfur emissions in power plants.
Equipment tender and purchasing services.
Design of secondary containment for liquid storage facilities.
Design of industrial liquid waste treatment plants using advanced, methods such as activated carbon treatment.
Project management services.
Design of hazardous gas absorption systems using activated carbon followed by "in situ" regeneration.
Design of thermal oxidizers and incinerators for hazardous wastes.
Complete planning and design of biodiesel plants.

HOW WE FUNCTION:

Our services are available to the chemical, energy, and power generation industries worldwide. We are licensed engineers in several US states, and in the European Union, and we are registered with several international financial aid organizations.

We are located in central Florida, with an ample supply of technical staff. One of our senior engineers will be assigned to lead the project from beginning to end, thus assuring continuity and responsiveness. All our design is done on AutoCAD. We also have access to many computer programs for performing engineering calculations, including process simulation. All of our specialist engineers are licensed professional engineers in Florida and many other states of the USA.

Office:

Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 274206, Tampa, FL 33688 USA
Telephones: 1-813- 961-1072, 1-813-961-8103

Fax: Please note we prefer that communications be sent via e-mail attachments.

E-mail:

tp@pradotec.com

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Last update: 18 December 2006