Sierra Energy

FastOx gasification was discovered by two steel industry engineers, initially to produce iron in an efficient and environmentally friendly way. They quickly realized the technology could convert a wide variety of waste streams into clean energy. The gasifier concept was entered in the UC Davis Graduate School of Business' 2002 Big Bang! Business Competition. The concept easily won the People’s Choice Award, as well as catching the eye of Mike G. Hart, a local railroad company CEO and a judge at the competition.

After securing rights to the technology, Hart founded a division of Sierra Railroad to use this technology to create clean fuel for his fleet of locomotives. Sierra Energy was then developed with the help of experts in the energy, power, and steel industries. In 2009, the technology was selected for construction and testing at the U.S. Army’s Renewable Energy Testing Center at McClellan Business Park, an independent testing facility funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).[2]

In 2013, the DoD, aided by grant funding from the California Energy Commission, entered into an agreement with Sierra Energy for the construction of a modularized FastOx gasifier, known as the FastOx Pathfinder, at U.S Army Garrison Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey County, California. That facility was built in the spring of 2017 and is now in commissioning.[3]

• June 2012 – 2012 Globie Award - Most Innovative New Product of the Year, CleanTech Environmental [4]
• October 2014 – GoingGreen Silicon Valley Top 100, AlwaysOn [5]
• November 2014 – 40 Hottest Smaller Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy, Biofuels Digest [6]
• November 2014 – Defense Energy Technology Challenge award, Defense Energy Summit and Innovation Showcase [7]
• April 2016 – Environmental Recognition Award, City of Davis [8]
• April 2016 – Cool Davis Eco-Hero Award, City of Davis [8]
• September 2016 - Upstart 100 Reinventors, Upstart Business Journal [9]
• October 2016 - Sacramento Region Innovation Award – First Place Sustainability, Sacramento Business Journal [10]
• February 2017 - Roddenberry Innovation award, Roddenberry Foundation [11]

The Sierra Energy FastOx gasifier claims to be a modified blast furnace that is capable of accepting nearly any type of waste consisting of organic and inorganic materials. The gasifier is designed to operate similar to a blast furnace and is meant to thoroughly convert a wide range of feedstocks into synthesis gas (made up mostly of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) of acceptable quality to produce liquid fuels or to generate electricity. The company claims that organic materials are converted into synthesis gas while inorganic materials are released as inert stone and metal [12]

Sierra's first commercial facility contains a 20-metric-tons per day waste gasification system that uses a patented high-temperature thermochemical conversion process to break down waste at the molecular level, converting virtually any waste into renewable electricity. Sierra's compact and streamlined Pathfinder system consists of containerized modules. The process begins with waste being fed in through the top of the refractory-lined gasifier shell, with oxygen and steam injected in at the bottom. The design allows the entire process to occur within a single vessel with no internal moving parts, minimizing maintenance and increasing uptime. This process has no toxic byproducts that require disposal.[13]. The company is currently working on developing their flagship Pathfinder system which can handle up to 50-metric-tons of waste per day. [14]