SonoAsh LLC JV
The Company formed the SonoAsh LLC joint venture with Nalco Mobotec Inc. (“Nalco”) in February 2009, under which the Company and Nalco are working together to develop the commercial use of fly ash utilizing Sonoro’s patented technologies. Sonoro currently owns 87.5% of the joint venture. Nalco may earn up to 50% of the joint venture by expending up to $4 million dollars through various steps, timelines and development.
SonoAsh is a cement substitute manufactured from waste fly ash from coal fired power stations. Pozzolanic fly ash, when blended with cement under the right conditions, forms a superior concrete product and fly ash has become a critical part of the cement supply chain. However, the power industry has taken major steps in recent years to further improve stack emissions and the overall efficiency of coal fired power generation with the result that the quality of fly ash is less desirable from the perspective of the cement industry.
As result of SonoAsh LLC work with the power industry in clean coal combustion and emissions systems, the joint venture is closer to developing processes to ensure that fly ash combustion products achieve environmental and cement quality standards. SonoAsh LLC is now working to make both current fly ash production and stored waste fly ash meet non-hazardous waste criteria and the quality standards desired by the cement industry. By utilizing a number of process steps, including sonication, SonoAsh LLC is able to condition fly ash by removing leachable chemicals and components detrimental to concrete quality.
There are general or specialized concrete needs for standard or high quality fly ash applications. SonoAsh LLC focuses on the following three:
- Cement substitute and replacement – depending on desired properties, anywhere from 7-60% of the total cement content can be substituted by fly ash. In general, applications requiring increased sulfate resistance and reduced cracking will use higher amounts;
- High strength product (ad-mix product providing benefits listed above);
- Specialty blend ad-mixes achieving superior performance.