Frontieras’ New State-of-the-Art Energy Technology Harnesses Power of Coal to Meet Rising Energy Demands of AI and Robotics Era
December 13th, 2024
Written by Matthew McKean, CEO and co-founder of Frontieras North America (LinkedIn)
2024 is the beginning of an era where the intertwined relationship between energy, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are shaping our global economy. This mutualism of innovation and energy has thrust Frontieras North America’s clean coal processing technology into the national spotlight as a catalyst for AI and robotic innovation, to save our nations fleet of coal plants and return this country to energy independence.
Earlier this year, Shell announced to the world that it was revising its carbon reduction targets to better align with anticipated energy demands. Shell’s revisions flew in the face of the Paris Accords. We saw this as a significant tipping point in the energy world. The energy world needed to recalibrate industry expectations and move forward in a measured fashion that accounted for a practical recognition of the indispensable role that coal plays in meeting energy demands. More recently, Duke Energy, one of the country’s largest utilities, took another step and announced the extension of life for several of its coal plants, including its largest, Gibson Station in Indiana. These are just two primary examples from industry leaders. There are also many more examples across the industry that have created a consistent drumbeat of resistance to balance needs and resources with the introduction of new and innovative options.
Frontieras North America’s FASForm plant is that innovation option. Frontieras’ state of the art processing technology extracts the maximum amount of energy from every piece of coal to produce high value liquids and gases from solids while producing a purified solid carbon product known as FASCarbon™. Because the volatiles are already removed from the FASCarbon during the FASForm process, it is ideal for industrial uses (steel and cement production) where the carbon is used for heat. Additionally, FASCarbon has 90% less sulfur than Petcoke, which lowers the carbon footprint and reduces CO2 emissions to burn cleaner than natural gas.
FASForm’s introduction coincides with a U.S. coal industry, more than 200 coal plants, that is facing plant decommissioning due to rising costs, changing regulatory demands and unrealistic projections from the NetZero 2050 initiative. In addition, this year marks the advent of the artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced robotics era that is expected to drive energy demand significantly higher in the coming years. According to a recent article in Forbes, Wells Fargo is projecting AI power demand to surge 550% by 2026, from 8 TWh in 2024 to 52 TWh, before rising another 1,150% to 652 TWh by 2030. This projected growth over the next 5 years represents an 8,050% increase from Wells Fargo’s 2024 projected level of energy consumption.
Frontieras’ go-to-market strategy for the FASForm processing technology is to operate both independently and alongside existing coal plants. Specifically, Frontieras’ market strategy is twofold, including breaking ground on its first standalone plant in West Virginia. Because of FASForm plants’ small footprint, Frontieras is able to cooperatively work with existing coal plants to construct FASForm adjacent to existing operations.
Frontieras’ technology allows existing coal plants to expand the lifecycle and value of products produced. Frontieras’ cooperative approach allows the coal industry to modernize its existing plants, meet changing regulatory requirements and improve the output with higher quality energy products that extend the plant’s operations.
Frontieras’ FASForm plant deploys a continuous-feed refining process for coal and other solids that uses constant heat and pressure to reform, refine and liberate the constituents of solid carbonaceous materials containing volatile compounds. By deconstructing the coal to its core elements, the Frontieras FASForm clean technology process:
Removes nearly all sulfur, mercury, and arsenic, as well as the moisture, which upgrades the thermal value of the final carbon product.
Captures and repurposes energy elements contained within a solid hydrocarbon, so no waste is emitted into the air, water, and soil.
Repurposes the captured volatiles to lower the carbon footprint and reduce CO2 emissions.
Current State of Frontieras North America
As we do every year, the management team and I gathered to set the objectives of the company and assess the global market to determine the factors we believe will impact Frontieras’ ability to deliver available, abundant and affordable energy. This was an interesting exercise as we had made the decision that 2024 represented the start of Frontieras’ capital raise to the public to advance the completion of the first FASForm in West Virginia.
At the start of February, I posted those predictions:
Projected Trends
Political upheaval on a global basis
High interest rates and a tight funding market
Green Agenda’s withering Impact across multiple markets
Stock Market Set to Roar
Jump forward to today, and you see that Frontieras was successful in identifying each of these key trends in advance, and was able to navigate them successfully.
In September of this year, Frontieras kicked off a retail direct public offering in conjunction with our institutional efforts. Frontieras’ retail direct public offering has been very well received to date, and we are looking to deploy the funds to advance the construction process of Frontieras’ first plant in West Virginia. More recently (on December 3rd), Frontieras secured a $150M equity investment commitment from GEM Global Yield LLC SCS (“GEM“) in the form of a Share Subscription Facility (SSF). To invest, visit https://invest.frontieras.com/
Frontieras’ yields produced from the coal processing will help countries meet anticipated energy demands to further innovation, maximize the energy held within coal and extend the lifecycle of more than 200+ coal plants within the United States.
Contrary to the prevailing narrative, coal remains a vital source of energy for millions of people around the world, providing affordable and reliable electricity that fuels economic growth and lifts communities out of poverty. Frontieras’ solutions illustrate how technology, science, and business work together to create efficiencies in a mature market. The Frontieras FASForm plant’s zero waste approach repurposes the captured violates, lowers the carbon footprint, and reduces CO2 emissions. In addition to the environmental benefits, this allows the production of FASCarbon to help comply to changing regulatory demands and create more efficient fuels.
These perspectives on the global energy market are my own. If you are interested in learning more about Frontieras, its FASForm technology, or the Frontieras management team, please visit www.frontieras.com.