A white paper describing how VASTech could be applied to supplement existing open ocean oil spill response equipment to reduce temporary oil-water storage bottlenecks and strongly reduce costs of clean up overall.

1. Develop and test clean on-site modular Distributed Direct Incineration
of oil with water recovered from offshore oil spills.
VAST Power Systems, Inc. et al.
3 May 2010
White Paper proposing Distributed Direct Incineration of Deepwater Horizon oil spill emulsions.
Goal: Rapidly incinerate oil/water emulsions for much lower oil spill remediation.
Executive Summary
Once deployed, VAST Distributed Direct Incinerators could cut 30% to 50% of projected Deepwater
Horizon cleanup costs by incinerating the oil/water emulsion on site. We propose an emergency
footing development and construction effort to field one dozen containerized Distributed Direct
Incinerators within 60 days, with incentives to field them within 30 days. Effective incineration could
save a substantial portion of the $3 billion to $14 billion costs and damages analysts are projecting.
Design objectives:
Incinerate heavy to light oil on-site in Gulf to Arctic conditions with up to 85% water.
Maintain soot, NOX and CO emissions within marine operating limits.
Use containerized modules on Oil Recovery (OR) vessels or on barges.
Introduction
The oil industry recognizes the need to improve oil spill response performance. Emulsifying oils
from denser deep water Gulf fields like Deepwater Horizon are particularly difficult to clean up. 1 Oil
spill response must be less sensitive to wave height and strong currents. Sweep speeds must increase
to maximize the area coverage within the narrow window of opportunity given us by nature.
Drilling a pressure relief well at Deepwater Horizon has been projected to take at least 90 days. The
Ixtoc I Gulf 1979/1980 blowout took 10 months to contain. Cleaning costs for US marine oil spills
ranged from US$1,050/bbl for offshore (1999 US$6,874/tonne) to US$3,815/bbl (US$25,066/tonne)
near shore2. At 150,000 bbl/month, the Deepwater Horizon spill cleanup will likely cost $180 million
to 600 million if the spill lasts three to ten months (at 5,000 bbl/day, $3,815/bbl or $60
million/month). However, analysts project far greater total costs ranging from $3 billion to $14
billion from environmental damage and harm to commercial industries, and legal damages. 3
About 50% to 80% of recovery costs often occur after initial recovery, especially in final treatment or
disposal. Denser deep water oils form difficult sticky emulsions that prevent most cleanup
techniques. Storage of recovered emulsion-oil is a major bottleneck in large oil spill response.
Transferring oil to tankers or barges and shipment to harbors is another bottleneck. Operations in
higher waves, near spawning grounds, stronger currents, and Arctic conditions needing faster
response further increase costs and safety risks.
VAST Technologies has developed a very clean combustion technology that can incinerate crude oil
emulsions with up to 85% water. VAST has incinerated crude oil with no visible smoke. VAST
1 Big, messy spill exceeds cleanup capacity: experts, Reuters April 30, 2010
2 Dagmar Schmidt Etkin, Worldwide Analysis of Marine Oil Spill Cleanup cost Factors, Arctic and Marine
Oilspill Program Technical Seminar (June 2000).
3 Cost of oil spill could exceed $14 billion, Tom Bergen, Reuters May 3, 2010 UK
VAST Distributed Direct Incineration Proposal 1/5

2. proposes to take oil recovered from the Deepwater Horizon spill and to immediately incinerate it on-
site in VAST Distributed Direct Incineration™ (DDI) systems. E.g., on board an OR vessel or on a
barge. This may replace $48/gal to $80/gal ($2,000/bbl to $3,300/bbl) cleanup costs, by eliminating
several costly steps in current oil spill recovery methods.
Increased need for VAST onboard on-site incineration
VAST DDI for on-site clean incineration of recovered oil will benefit spill recovery operations:
1. Less expensive: VAST eliminates the extremely costly transfer, shipment, and on-shore
disposal/re-use operation. VAST's DDI may replace more than 50% of total cleanup costs.
2. Safer and less complicated: Eliminates most risky bad-weather-transfer of oil from response
vessel to tanker.
3. Less air pollution. The VAST DDI system can incinerate recovered oil / water mixture at least as
cleanly as land based facilities.
4. No trans-shipment from spill site to land based receiving facility, returning empty as with most
spills.
5. Faster removal: Eliminates delays in response while transshipping recovered oil.
6. Site independent: VAST's modular portable technology enables on-site incineration in near-
shore, off-shore, and in Arctic environments.
7. Sea conditions tolerant: VAST DDI will likely be much less affected by the sea conditions than
booms, skimmers or dispersant-based treatment systems.
8. Spill agnostic: The same VASThermogenerator™ can burn virtually any petroleum product as
fuel for the DDI process. It can use seawater as coolant to control combustion temperatures. This
minimizes the equipment required for handling different types of petroleum products at oil spill
response centers.
9. Heat for process enhancement: Incineration heat is recovered to generate steam or hot water for
cleaning and enhanced skimmer and transfer pump performance on viscous oil emulsions.
Not in-situ burning
It should be emphasized that the proposed technology in no way is similar to traditional in-situ
burning. VAST has demonstrated direct combustion of crude oil with no visible plume. The VAST
DDI technology is a clean on-site incineration technology with excellent air pollution emission
control. VAST DDI utilizes the recovered oil as primary fuel, leaving no heavy oil residues in the
treated sea water.
The VAST clean combustion technology
VAST Wet Combustion™ cools combustion with water instead of excess air. This is not to quench
combustion as mankind has done since time immemorial - but to improve temperature control,
burning efficiency and to reduce emissions. VASThermogenerators inject thermal diluent, primarily
water or steam, upstream, directly into, and around the primary flame zone to control combustion
temperatures within critical ranges. VAST Wet Combustion Cycles avoid forming nitrogen oxides
(NOX) in the first place by cooling combustion with water and steam, and reducing excess oxygen.
A VASThermogenerator is effectively a flash steam boiler where water injected into a hot
combustion zone flashes into steam. This produces VASTgas™ that is about half steam and half
nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Its important advantages include:
1. Efficient: Increased energy conversion efficiency in small-scale distributed applications. VAST's
efficiency is less sensitive to size than most systems.
2. Clean: Cleaner combustion with reduced pollution profiles for NO X, carbon monoxide (CO) and
VAST Distributed Direct Incineration Proposal 2/5

3. unburned hydrocarbon (UHC): VAST's pollution reduction is effective even at small scale.
3. Inexpensive: Lower capital requirements by eliminating catalytic cleanup: a VAST Cycle
produces minimal amounts of pollution during combustion. This eliminates post-combustion
catalytic cleanup systems to reach ultra-low emission levels of NO X, CO and UHC.
4. Fuel Flexible: VASThermogenerators have been tested on propane, diesel, jet fuel, and wellhead
crude.
5. Tolerant of variable fuel quality: in terms of heating value, and moisture content in air and fuel
streams. VAST's DDI is designed to handle up to 85% water in emulsions.
6. Independent control of temperature and air: real-time ability to vary either air/fuel ratio or
combustion temperature independently of the other.
7. Wide operating range: Each VAST DDI unit is designed to handle from 100% down to 20% of
the design incineration rate (a 5:1 range or “turn down ratio”). Each DDI unit can be turned on
or off. Thus a system of 4 DDI units is designed to handle from 100% down to 5% of the
combined full system incineration capacity (20:1 range in flow rate).
VAST has filed 21 patents covering wet combustion, enhanced heavy oil recovery, and related
energy systems. Following are highlights of its disruptive paradigm changing technology.
Technological capabilities
1. Exceptional combustion range & stability: Stable wet combustion from 750ºC to 1,500ºC
(1,382ºF to 2,732ºF) allows VAST DDI to cleanly combust a range of water-oil mixtures or
emulsions. This very wide combustion zone allows a wide range of variability in the water-oil
mixtures/emulsions being incinerated. Figures 1, 2a, and 2b show a VASThermogenerator™.
2. Tolerant to widely variable water/fuel: Varying water/oil ratios up to 85% water will not cause
flameout in a VAST DDI designed with robust control system. It will inject supplemental
seawater or fuel into the VASThermogenerator to maintain the temperature within a design
range. If too much water is present with the fuel, the VASThermogenerator will inject additional
buffer fuel to maintain an acceptable temperature. Conversely, when the recovered oil has little
water, more seawater will be injected to cool the combustion into the desired temperature range.
Injecting fuel into hot gases between 750ºC and 1,500ºC will rapidly vaporize and ignite injected
fuel. Fuel heated to 750ºC (1,382ºF) with excess air is above the ignition point of even heavy
crude oil. This ensures combustion stability even with high levels of water or emulsions.
3. High water-fuel ratios: VAST defines the Omega () ratio as the water-to-fuel ratio by mass
being combusted in the system. VASThermogenerators operate over a wide range of Omega ()
ratios. E.g. total water/fuel in combustion from 3.5:1 to 7:1 depending on the desired
temperature. VAST's DDI can burn recovered oil having up to 85% water on average. Recovered
seawater-oil mixtures are filtered to remove debris. It is the VASThermogenerator's combustion
stability with high water/fuel ratios that makes it so suitable to this application. Seawater mixed
with crude oil looks like good fuel to a VASThermogenerator.
4. Wide operating and control ranges: VAST's wet combustion operates from 750ºC to 1,500ºC. It
can easily tolerate water in recovered oil ranging from 0% to over 85%. The incoming water/oil
fraction is monitored. Makeup seawater is added to maintain the overall water/fuel ratio and
combustion temperature within prescribed ranges. Backup fuel is used for startup and to buffer
any transients having low fuel fractions. Pumping water enables very rapid temperature control
for stable operations.
5. Exceptional Temperature Control: Separately pumping water and liquid fuel allows precise
control over the quantity of coolant or fuel released into the VASThermogenerator. For example,
manual controls achieved local combustion temperature control to within 1ºF in 1997
VAST Distributed Direct Incineration Proposal 3/5

4. VASThermogenerator tests burning diesel. Computerized control systems will provide robust
control over fluctuating water content of recovered oil. Temperature control is important to avoid
component failure and to control NOX emissions. NOX is reduced by maintaining combustion
temperatures within temperature range, reducing excess oxygen and reducing residency at high
temperatures.
6. Adequate residence time: VASThermogenerators preferably operate under ~1,260ºC (2,300ºF) to
minimize NOX formation while providing sufficient residence time to fully burn out of all carbon
and oxidation of CO into CO2. VAST expects that this DDI application will provide sufficient
residence time to handle the long-chained hydrocarbons of heavier oils in tight emulsions. VAST
is preparing another patent on its next generation combustion system. This overcomes the
challenge of incinerating emulsions of heavy and weathered oil from Gulf to Arctic conditions.
7. Heat to assist recovery: DDI arrays can provide thousands of tons per hour of boiling hot water
to reduce viscosity of heavy oil and wax and assist in recovery and pumping.
Environmental benefits
1. Ultra Clean: VAST has achieved ultra-low NOX, CO, particulate & CO2 emissions without
catalysts in bench-scale burns. VAST has demonstrated sub-ppm NO X & CO (@15% O2) for
propane using our proprietary “progressive combustion.” Achieving emissions this low
eliminates catalytic post-combustion hot gas treatments. Controlling the progressive delivery of
fuel, oxidant, and water combined with controlled expansion rates tailors reaction paths to
control combustion temperatures and ultra-clean VASTgas composition.
2. Complete Carbon Combustion: VAST Wet Combustion improves carbon particulate burnout by
increasing hydroxyl-mediated combustion. Wet combustion increases hydroxyl ion
concentrations, a critical “bottleneck” in combustion reactions. VAST Wet Combustion strongly
increases reaction rates, increasing combustion stability and enhancing full carbon burnout while
simultaneously lowering both CO and NOX. This enables VAST to burn difficult “fuels of
opportunity” while maintaining emission levels.
3. Multi-fuel capable: VAST has demonstrated wet combustion of wellhead crude with no visible
plume, as well as on diesel and propane.
4. Quieter, Less Damaging Combustion: VAST Wet Combustion dampens potentially damaging
combustor pressure oscillations. This lowers acoustic ambient noise from large scale combustion.
VAST markedly reduces component damage due to combustor acoustic coupling fatigue.
5. Heat for enhanced cleanup: Steam can be generated to heat and clean shorelines, work
surfaces, heat decks, heat oil and enhance pump transfer etc.
6. Gulf to Arctic: Hot water from incineration can be used to heat oil to reduce viscosity in Gulf
operations on to melting thousands of cubic meters of ice per hour as needed in the Arctic.
The scope of work
In this proposal, VAST is focusing on the combustor (VASThermogenerator) plus the balance of
plant equipment needed to form a VAST Distributed Direct Incineration (DDI) module for use in oil
spill cleanup. This focus will enhance the benefits of this new paradigm VAST is proposing to give a
radically new, more effective and less costly system for oil spill removal.
VAST is taking a “retrofit” approach, utilizing existing oil spill response equipment whenever
feasible. We seek to work with existing equipment providers for all but the development and testing
of the on-site incineration system. VAST's DDI includes the VASThermogenerator, a stand alone
control system with remote monitoring and control, the air supply, supplemental fuel and seawater
supply and delivery systems, the heat exchanger design for providing supplemental steam or hot
VAST Distributed Direct Incineration Proposal 4/5

5. water, and the exhaust stack design, etc.
Incinerator Module: VAST proposes to develop a modular on-site Distributed Direct Incineration
(DDI) system. Each Distributed Direct Incineration module will be configured in standard marine
shipping containers for ready deployment. Initially, each DDI is nominally sized to incinerate 600
m3/day of oil/water emulsion assuming 35% oil and 65% water processing 61,000 gal/day (1,450
bbl/day) of crude oil. Projecting peak design capacity each DDI is expected to accommodate up to
85% water with 15% oil in the recovered oil for a peak emulsion design flow rate of 1,360 m 3/day.
Multiple DDI modules will be used to achieve desired incineration rates. e.g. We expect to achieve a
System Capacity of 2400 m3/d oil/water with 4 VAST DDI units nominally sized to incinerate 65%
water/35% oil mixtures. This 4 DDI system has a nameplate capacity of 5,448 m 3/day) for Ekofisk
blend 2000 emulsions with up to 85% water/15% oil. These incinerate up to 245,000 gal/day (5,800
bbl/day) of spilled crude oil. DDI Incinerators can be located on multiple oil response vessels to
improve reliability and speed coverage. Figure 3 shows horizontally oriented modules stacked two
high covering 5 m x 12 m. Modules may be oriented vertically covering 5 m x 5 m. See Figure 4.
Incineration rates may increase with experience, reducing the number of incinerators required.
We assume use of existing oil recovery technologies with nominal 6,500 bbl (1,000 tonne) recovered
oil/water emulsion buffer storage per vessel. We assume availability of supplemental fuel storage and
seawater buffer tanks. (Alternatively we will design to include those). Those facilities have existing
equipment vendors to which we will engineer appropriate interfaces. VAST will design its DDI
system to position on deck existing Oil Recovery vessels. Alternatively they may be mounted on a
barge. The VAST DDI will be designed for black start operation. It will be capable of remote control
and monitoring.
VAST's DDI paradigm will strongly reduce or eliminate subsequent process steps conventionally
required to control an oil spill. VAST's DDI system will reduce or eliminate most removal, storage,
tanker(s) hire, ship-to-ship transfer on spill site, ship-to-shore transfer, further storage and eventual
transport to further treatment or incineration. This strong reduction in downstream spill cleanup costs
exceeds incremental costs of VAST's DDI, giving net savings.
The project team
VAST Power Systems, Inc. (VAST) is a late stage start up in wet combustion research and
development specializing in pollution control and efficient energy systems for industrial applications.
That is what we're good at. VAST is partnering with firms specializing in marine engineering,
procurement, construction, and in oil spill recovery.
Project Leader & Combustion Engineering: VAST Power Systems, Inc.
Oil Spill Response Equipment Engineering: Ro-clean DESMI A/S, Denmark
Corporate counterpart and contact person
VAST Power Systems, Inc. will form a joint venture “NewCo”, tentatively called VAST Oil Spill
Response Systems (VOSRS), after consultation with our JV partner(s).
VAST's contact person is:
Gary Ginter, Chairman/CEO VAST Power Systems, Inc.
Phn +1 (312) 925-4571 5840 West Midway Park
Email Gary.Ginter@VASTPowerSystems.com Chicago, Illinois 60644-1803 USA
VAST Distributed Direct Incineration Proposal 5/5

6. VAST Distributed Direct Incineration Proposal 6/5

7. Figure 1
VASThermogenerator
3-D Cutaway
Air injected into the left end flows along the outside wall of the pressure vessel and back inside a
radiation shield to mix with water in the air distribution head. Fuel injected into the “fire tube” mixes
with the humid air, forming a rich pilot flame. Further humid air is mixed in and around the flame.
Water is injected downstream to control combustion temperature and emissions.
VAST Distributed Direct Incineration Proposal Supplement Appendix 2/4

8. Figure 2a
VASThermogenerator
Fluid Flows
Figure 2b
VASThermogenerator
Flows and Combustion
VAST Distributed Direct Incineration Proposal Supplement Appendix 3/4

9. Figure 3
VAST DDI Systems
Horizontally Stacked
VAST Distributed Direct Incineration Proposal Supplement Appendix 4/4

10. Figure 4
VAST DDI Systems
Vertically Configured
VAST Distributed Direct Incineration Proposal Supplement Appendix 5/4