From what I understand, RPI's new management has made significant progress in
restructuring the finances of the company. They have converted bondholder
debt into equity, and they have renegotiated the payments due to Deere and
Company for the purchase of the technology. (Deere purchased the technology
from Curtiss Wright in 1984, and sold it to RPI at the very end of '91 with
payments due over a period of time.) This progress has allowed them to
proceed with a series of private equity placements to raise the capital
required to get a few prototype engines built and into the hands of key
customers. There is much more recent info on the website.

Regarding the biomass fuel, this is a gaseous fuel and will theoretically run
better in a rotary than in other internal combustion engines. It has low
energy content, so the rotary's inherently high power density and lean burn
ability allow the fuel to produce mechanical power with a reasonable size
engine. I do not know if the rotary (or any other engine) has actually been
operated on gas made from this particular system.

Jon

Jon, would it help to compress the gas a bit before injecting it?
I notice that P&W use 750 HP diesel driven compressors to allow
them to burn city natural gas in their high power industrial gas turbines.

Paul Lamar
 
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