SSI Engineering Services

In addition to its specific coal upgrading capabilities, SynCoal Solutions’ technical team and associates have diverse experience in coal production, processing and power generation including:

Harry E. Bonner is SynCoal Solutions’ Chief Technical Officer. He has worked for several engineering firms, including Commercial Testing & Engineering, Stone & Webster and SRK. In those capacities, he has worked on virtually every coal handling and processing technology applied to coal of all types but particularly Powder River Basin coals. Mr. Bonner has provided technical guidance to the SynCoal Project since 1990. He was the Lead Process Engineer for the design of the Advance Coal Conversion Project, continuing project involvement through construction, commissioning and operator training. Harry continued technical assistance through initial operations, supervising plant operations and preparing normal and emergency operation procedures. Subsequent efforts included optimizing plant performance and maximizing plant capacity.

Mr. Bonner was primarily responsible for developing the SynCoal Gen2 approach of integrating the SynCoal Process into a Host Boiler facility. He has provided process guidance with efforts directed at improving the process, providing process data interpretation, and coordinating process testing. Perhaps the most notable test effort demonstrated that the SynCoal Process does not produce, or liberate volatile organic compounds when operated within design conditions. He has supervised the integration of the equipment and process concepts into the new design and operating costs while increasing capacity and availability.

Mr. Bonner has provided process consultations related to several coal upgrading processes, including, Puron, Carbon Tec, and KFx, now Evergreen Energy. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wyoming.

Ray W. Sheldon is the guiding force behind the Company having been involved with the SynCoal project since 1981. Ray was the former Project Manager of the SynCoal Demonstration Project. Western Energy, the coal mining arm of Montana Power, built and operated the demonstration plant to verify operating conditions and to provide engineering data for a commercial facility. The Demonstration Plant, referred to as the Advanced Coal Conversion Project (ACCP), was designed to produce 300,000 tons of product annually. The facility produced, sold and shipped 1,987,000 tons of SynCoal during the eight year duration of the project.

Mr. Sheldon managed all activities; including initial process test work, qualification for Section 29 tax credits, project financing, engineering, construction, operations, marketing and business development. He was primarily responsible for taking the process from conception to demonstration. He was successful in securing private letter rulings from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allowing the project to qualify for Section 29 Tax Credits and patents covering the original process and enhancements. Mr. Sheldon also supervised the successful application for Department of Energy participation under the Clean Coal Act, which provided 48% of the capital and operating costs of the $105 million demonstration project. He holds a B.S. & M.Sc. in Mining Engineering from Montana Tech and a M.B.A. from the University of Montana. He is a registered professional engineer (Montana).