ABERDEEN, Scotland, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- A Scottish energy company teamed with U.S. investors to develop a way to use wood pellets as a low-carbon alternative to coal.
Rotawave Biocoal, an Aberdeen company, signed a $20 million deal with U.S. investment company Cate Street Capital to develop so-called biocoal for U.S. and Canadian markets.
Richard Cyr, an executive at Cate Street Capital, was quoted by the Financial Times as saying the process could put biocoal on par with coal, oil and natural gas.
"Essentially it creates a new energy commodity in mass quantities that is efficient, environmentally sensitive and renewable," he was quoted as saying.
Rotawave uses microwave technology to process wood pellets to form a low-carbon, low-cost option that could be used in conventional power stations, the company said.
A subsidiary of Cate Street Capital said it could process more than 100,000 tons of biocoal per year by next year. A target capacity is set at 1 million tons.
