Officials from Ashtabula Energy attended an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency public meeting last Thursday in Ashtabula, Ohio, regarding the draft of a permit for wastewater discharge at the proposed industrial processing plant there.
Ashtabula Energy, a division of Velocys, a UK-based technology innovator for smaller scale gas-to-liquids (GTL), hopes to launch construction this year of the 4,200 bpd Fischer Tropsch GTL plant in Ashtabula to convert Marcellus and Utica Shale gas into diesel fuel, lubricants, solvents and waxes. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency had already issued an air permit for the project.
The plant was previously owned by Pinto Energy LLC. In June 25, 2014, Velocys announced the acquisition of Pinto Energy and the Ashtabula GTL project.
Natural gas is clean, the finished products are clean and the diesel burns cleaner than what were used to seeing, Jeff S. McDaniel, Velocys commercial director, said. It burns cleaner and better.
The company chose Ashtabula because of its proximity to transportation, including Lake Erie, and shale plays as well as the propertys existing infrastructure, including 80 acres from the company formerly known as Elkem Metals.
Ashtabula Energy, a company created in Columbus, Ohio, built its first commercial facility in Oklahoma City; this would be its second.
