Cincinnati City Council has passed an ordinance that will extend the City's lease with Cincinnati Bulk Terminals until 2036, paving the way for a clean coal processing facility along the Ohio River in Queensgate.

UK-based Vertus Technologies, Ltd. plans to use the site to ship more than 100,000 tons of cleaner, processed coal each year.

In May, Vertus signed a 25-year deal with Cincinnati Bulk Terminals to help the company handle the raw coal and then to ship the clean coal fuels throughout the region.

The operation will require the construction of one or more new warehouse facilities of at least 12,000 square feet on the site, which would have extended well past the 2011 end date of the previous lease.

Vertus' technology heats coal without oxygen to remove 99 percent of its sulfur content, and removes and recycles 99 percent of its mercury content.

Ohio's high-sulfur coal, which produces heavy sulfur dioxide emissions when burned, has historically put the state at an economic disadvantage.

The Queensgate site will be Vertus' first U.S production facility.

According to Vertus president Dr. Kenneth Hughes, "clean solid fuel" is expected to be available from the site by the end of this year.

The company plans to start with seven employees and to grow to between 25 and 30 people within the next five years.

Cincinnati Bulk Terminals has leased the property since 1988 and has been operating multi-modal coal facilities since 1882.

Photo credit: Cincinnati Bulk Terminals

Previous reading on BC:
Cincinnati Bulk Terminals lease could extend to 2036, bring clean coal (5/28/08)