Subject: Depolymerization

Field Observation Report.

Track - CWT_01_12012003

Thermal Depolymerization Facility

CWT / RES / CONAGRA

Carthage MO  64836

Date: December 01, 2003 Time on site : 10:30 AM

Weather: 60° Crisp Sunny Time off site :   11:30 AM

Work Observed in Progress:

1.  At least 15 Construction/Facility workers were observed in and around site.

2.  A 50' crane was observed on site though it did not appear tasked.

3.  Two large tanker/offal trucks were observed parked just outside. Their drivers were in attendance and seemed to be waiting for instructions.

4.  A UPS truck was seen to arrive and deliver several large packages.

5.  Several times high pitched whines similar to Jet engines was heard followed by an extended siren like wind down and some misc. steam emissions. It must be noted that the sound in no way matched the decibel level of a jet engine but was very prominent.

Personnel On Site:

Theo Asir - Reporter.

No attempt was made to contact facility workers, as the reporters’ time was short. A large sign out front requested that all visitors contact Management.

SIT-REP

Carthage Missouri is an Industrial Agriculture based town of about 13,000 souls. The town has seen better times but the streets and homes while a little bare were immaculately maintained and kept exceptionally clean. The people are friendly and warm, even to strangers.

Many different Agricultural Companies have Industrial facilities in this town. A few observed by this reporter are noted below.

Conagra, Schreiber and Cargill.

The Thermal Depolymerization Facility was easy to locate. It was the only oil refinery like facility in the area. A sign pointing to Renewable Environmental Services, Inc. marked the way. This is the joint venture vehicle CWT and Conagra are using to operate the facility. There are few external indications of the involvement of either CWT or Conagra. This may be deliberate.

No real attempt at protecting / visually shielding the facility was noted. The surrounding Grain Elevators, Silo and other facilities shield the plant somewhat (as can be seen in the picture) but this this did not appear to be intentional. The companies seem to be depending on anonymity and a lack of curiosity amongst the local citizenry.

There is a 6' fence around the entire facility with barbed wire at the top. The fence did not appear to have any other sensors or electrification. A large rolling gate controls access to the site with a card reader prominently placed. This reporter observed several workers arrive and depart without using the card reader. The rolling gate was observed propped open during the entire visit.

Site Analysis

The Facility is located at a dead end with dense woodland on three sides. This meant that pictures could only be obtained from certain angles. The site appears to be a square, approx 200' on side and occupies at least an Acre of Land. The facility footprint fully occupies this site. There is almost no set back from the fence in many areas. (Refer to Cartographic Map, Topographic Map and Aerial Photo)   

An apparently dysfunctional Railroad runs in front of the facility. This did not appear to be used by the facility. Most deliveries were made via the gravel road by truck.

A drainage ditch runs just to the North of the site. There are also several large containment/holding tanks to the North with 12'-15' embankments between.

It is important to note that the facility is located at the bottom of a basin (refer attached topo map). Fema flood data is not available for Carthage but it is certain that heavy rain will cause some localized flooding in the area. This area of Missouri has long been prone to flooding. The facility does not seem to be protected in any way from this threat.

Additionally drought might create the danger of fires. The woodland around the facility is very close in and very dense. It is unclear how the facility might survive this threat.

As noted earlier access to the site is via a gravel track approaching the North West corner of the site.

Facility Report

The facility consists of a large metal panel building that partially encloses the interwoven pipes and tanks. At an estimate the enclosure seems to contain less than a quarter of the assemblage.

The office building seems to be small tower like structure on north side of the agglomeration. Most of the other buildings seem to be construction trailer like structures. It is not known if they are intended as permanent installations.

The main building steps up to a maximum estimated height of 45'-50' above grade. This is not the maximum height of facility itself. Several sections of piping and tanks seem to exceed 60'.

The temperatures in this part of Missouri often drop below 0 F in the dead of winter. Extensive insulation and sheathing was observed around many of the external pipes and tanks.

The pipes seem to follow standard color-coding for wastewater plants. The Aqua for water lines and yellow for chemical lines are very prominent though it is unclear exactly what the chemicals involved are as no color stripping was observed. The black/brown sludge lines were harder to see but are present.

Several steam vents were noted around the facility. The large one on the building roof repeatedly vented huge clouds of steam. A strong smell of rotting flesh was noticed after a couple of these operations. It is not clear if the two are linked. It can be seen venting in the attached picture. There seemed to be no extension snorkel with associated air scrubbers. In fact air scrubbers were not noticed anywhere on the project despite close observation.

It must be noted that a strong smell of rotting flesh pervaded the local area due to the presence of turkey trailers and sheds. (see picture)

The large double doors that provide access to the main building were propped open during the visit. As the temperature was mild it was hard to determine if the building interior was required to be heated/cooled. No Air-conditioning unit was noted for large building. If so the building will be unpleasantly warm in summer.

While the company has not released the relevant information, some educated speculation can made regarding the purpose of the various tanks and sub processes.

The Large black tank and sub process to the North of the agglomeration is probably used to grind and store the raw feed materials, in this case Turkey Offal. This tank did not appear to be insulated externally. There is a large yellow bucket tip attachment that is apparently used to help with loading the feed into the hopper. It seems surprising that this grizzly process would be so front and center visible but apparently the Citizenry of Carthage is less squeamish than most.

The main building seems to contain most of the burners, boilers and separators. Numerous vents and fans can be seen on the roofs that seem to be there for the release and intake of gases.

The large exterior tank to South West of the property seems to be the main refinery where the oil & gas are separated. It seems logical to place this potentially hazardous process far away from the main building. This reporter noticed at least one worker who appeared to be taking a smoke near this tank. Perhaps he was not aware of danger nearby or maybe this tank is not the refiner. This is unclear.

The numerous fans on the South exterior wall are intriguing. They might be meant for ventilation or for the intake/discharge of gases. In any case the need for handling large quantities of gases does not seem very clear from the patent process. No doubt this will become clearer with time.

Miscellaneous Items

Numerous tanker trailers and dumpsters were observed parked out side the facility. A picture of one of the dumpsters with turkey offal is attached. The squeamish may look away. A picture is also attached of the various types of offal's Conagra processes. It is not clear if these trucks parked near the facility actually served its requirements.

The dumpsters observed appeared to be 10,000 lbs - 12,000 lbs in capacity. The Tanker trucks were observed to be 5000 Gal - 7000 Gal in capacity. This brings up an important point. CWT has repeatedly stated that this is a 200 tons/day of offal and 600 Barrels per day of Oil facility. This would mean 40-50 offal trucks + 6 Oil trucks every single day not counting the trucks needed for other remaining products like the minerals. This would mean a truck arriving, tasking and leaving roughly every 20 minutes. The access road and the relatively small loading area is not going to cut it. CWT will have serious problems when it attempts to ramp up.

A perfect birds eye view photo of the facility should be possible from the top of the grain silo in the attached picture. This might be the object of a follow up field visit.

No containment facility was observed for the wastewater. CWT was apparently telling the truth about using the municipal sewer system for discharge.

Conclusion

On the basis of you get what you pay for the RES facility is very impressive. The installation and equipment used seems to be top of the line, no expense has been spared.

It is clear that the plant has been up and running for some time. It is also processing substantial quantities of materials. This is a considerable achievement in this day and age of vaporware.

There also seems to be a lot of complexity involved, it is not surprising that there has been delays and revisions.

While scaling up seems relatively straightforward it is unclear if scaling down will help resolve the complexity.

We wait for RES to release the final test data that should help resolve the many questions out there on this process.

Theo Asir

Kansas City, MO