NTS Development gains equity in new LV firms

David Strow

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1999 | 10:52 a.m.

Two emerging companies employing environmentally friendly solutions to refrigeration and power generation are coming to the Las Vegas Valley.

NTS Development Corp. presented the two companies, Next Generation Power and Cryo-Line, at its Board of Directors meeting Monday. Cryo-Line hopes to open a 10,000-square-foot Freon recycling plant in Henderson by mid-November, while Next Generation Power plans to open its research and development center in early 2001.

NTS used the companies to showcase a new entity it calls the Nevada Innovation Center, designed to help incubate emerging companies in the area. NTS has helped incubate seven companies over the past three years, but the Nevada Innovation Center represents a more concerted focus on this effort.

NTS is a quasi-public company focused on finding new commercial applications for the Nevada Test Site, located 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Nevada Innovation Center represents a new direction, an effort to encourage the growth of emerging, technology-oriented companies in Clark County.

In exchange for providing start-up services to the companies, the center will receive equity stakes in its participant companies. The center holds a 10 percent stake in Next Generation Power, and has an agreement to receive future compensation for its services from Cryo-Line.

"These companies are ready to move on and create value of their own, which the development corporation will share in," said Tim Carlson, president of NTS.

The first company, Next Generation Power, plans to begin building a $25 million natural gas power generation system in May. The system will be located at the Clark County waste water treatment plant on Flamingo Road.

That location isn't an accident. The generator, which should begin operating in January 2001, will use compressed air generated by a long waste-water waterfall at the treatment plant.

Once the water has completed its 600-foot fall, air bubbles in the waste water will be pressurized to roughly 15 times normal atmospheric pressure. This pressurized air is then funneled off to the natural gas-fired turbine. Next Generation Power estimates it will use about half the fuel of a normal natural gas turbine, since it won't have to generate its own compressed air.

The aeration process also increases the amount of bacteria in the water, speeding up the treatment process.

"This will be the only one in the world like it," said Lorne Karl, president and chief executive of Next Generation Power. "We can build these things any place. It's going to be a huge saving to the county."

All costs associated with the project will be absorbed by the company, while Clark County will receive a 10 percent discount on electricity generated by the turbine. About half of the 15 megawatts of power generated will be sold to Clark County to power the sanitation system; the remainder will be sold on the open market for electricity.

The company plans to research new applications for the technology at the Flamingo Road center, as well as provide a place to show off the technology to potential buyers. Karl said it's too early to estimate how many people will work at the center.

"We have several other processes we're working on ... everything from fish-farming to vegetable farms," Karl said.

The second company, Cryo-Line, has been operating near Toronto for the past four years. Its U.S. headquarters will open in Henderson in mid-November.

Cryo-Line's main product is a Freon filter first patented by Union Carbide Corp. Though Union Carbide still holds this patent, Cryo-Line holds the worldwide rights to its use.

The filter is engineered to specifically capture molecules of Freon from coolant systems that are under maintenance. Freon is a popular coolant, but its widespread use has been linked to the deterioration of the earth's ozone layer. Its use has been outlawed in car air conditioners, but it is still used in such applications as industrial air conditioning systems and refrigerators.

Cryo-Line says its filter can capture the Freon without allowing any escape into the air when the filter is changed. Once replaced, the filter will be shipped to the recycling facility in Henderson. The filter is heated to 180 degrees, releasing the Freon and allowing it to be safely collected and sold for reuse. Murray Weightman, president of the company, estimates the Henderson facility will be able to collect 150,000 pounds of Freon a year.

"One of the country's largest appliance manufacturers wants to use this technology to recover refrigerant from every refrigerator they service in the U.S.," Weightman said.

The company now has about 30 percent market share among Freon recyclers in Canada.

"We're been commercializing this for four years in Canada, and (Union Carbide) said, 'Why don't you give it a shot down here?"' Weightman said.

The center will employ about eight people to start, and expand to about 25 employees eventually.

"We looked at five different states, and the development corporation seemed to offer us the most guidance and assistance," Weightman said. "Other (states) offered money, but money wasn't a problem at the time. We needed help getting through the red tape of the United States."