Smoothing out the lumps.

Stamet Inc.'s 'rock pump' feeds coal and other fuels into furnaces

It's called a "rock pump," and it looks like a water-wheel minus the blades, or a wire spool without the wire.

Innocuous looks aside, its commercialization by Gardena-based Stamet Inc. could increase efficiencies in the world's coal-fired electric plants. The device may gain even wider applications in everything from cereal plants to steelyards to rubber factories.

Already, orders are pouring in from utilities in India, Japan and the United States, boosting Stamet's revenues 10-fold this year to an estimated $2 million. At this rate, the company forecasts sales of $8 million in 1997.

The term "rock pump" is something of a misnomer by Stamet founder Morton Winston, a Harvard-trained lawyer. "Of course, you can't really pump rocks. We named it that to get people's attention," he says.

What the patented rock pump really does is this: It transports, or "feeds," in consistent and metered fashion, lumpy solids such as coal. The coal does not have to be pulverized, or wetted down into a watery mush.

Long-time Angelenos might recognize the Winston name from his days as chairman and chief executive of Tosco Corp., a Fortune 500 oil company once based in Santa Monica that is now headquartered in Stamford, Conn.

Today, Morton is convinced he has a machine badly needed by the nation's power plants, about one-half of which are fired by coal - although few such plants exist in California because of strict environmental regulations.

Utilities with Stamet rock pumps in place are reporting good results.

"The Stamet feeders (rock pumps) have never failed to deliver coal at a precise rate demanded by our boilers. Its performance helps us operate Sunbury (power plant) efficiently and minimize emissions, while using a cheaper but difficult-to-handle fuel, anthracite silt," said Robert Black, supervisor of operations at Pennsylvania Power and Light in Shamokin Dam, Penn.

Adding anthracite silt to a mix of coals produces an annual savings of $500,000 a year, reports Black. And if the rock pump works with the silt, it will work with anything, suggests Winston.

"Oh, that anthracite silt is an awful, sticky, lumpy goo," says Winston, grimacing "It's like lumpy spaghetti or something. You could make a clump of it and throw it against the wall, and it would stick." But the silt is plentiful, and cheap.

For decades, utilities such as Pennsylvania Power have been vexed by several aspects of coal, which is by far the nation's most abundant energy resource.

A key problem is that it is difficult to move coal into burners or pressurized environments, in accurately metered fashion.

Accurate motoring is necessary to get a good, efficient burn, and also for emission-control problems.

Lumpy coal tends to clog equipment, causing variances in coal "throughput," the industry term for the movement of coal into burners or pressurized environments. When either too much or too little coal enters a burner, efficiency can plummet and emissions skyrocket, says Winston, citing industry literature.

The rock pump accurately controls throughput, prompting such utilities as Duke Power, Alabama Power (part of the Southern Co.), and Chicago-based Commonwealth Edison of Illinois to make recent purchases from Stamet. Utilities in Japan and India have also installed the rock pumps, and Stamet has inked a deal with Japan's biggest trading company, Itochu Corp., to represent it in the Far East,

Stamet's rock pump design is so simple it appears to be missing parts. The coal is simply fed continuously through a vibrating vertical hopper, down into the rock pump.

The downward pressure of the coal presses the lumpy mix between vertically mounted, twin rotating discs, also called a spool.

In a sense, the coal is jammed into the spool, which rotates and thus propels the mix into a burn chamber. The sole moving part on the rock pump is the axle connecting the discs.

The rock pump is the invention of 77-year-old Donald Firth, a British-educated mechanical engineer, longtime researcher for the National Engineering Laboratory of Great Britain, and now board member at Stamet.

In the early 1980s, Winston hired Firth to investigate ways to move solids at Tosco's oil shale plants in Colorado. The world turned out not to need shale oil - it was very expensive, and was no longer in demand after OPEC collapsed in the mid-1980s. In 1987, Winston brought Firth with him to start Stamet.

To date, the rock pump, which costs between $100,000 and $250,000 depending on size, has evidently proved itself in utilities, but Morton has his eye on broader applications.

"In virtually every industry where solids are moved, we can be of use. In food preparation, in the steel industry, in cement plants, in pharmaceutical plants," he says.

In particular, the world's steel plants could substitute powdered coal for coke, resulting in savings and less pollution, states Winston.

To date, investors including Robert Quenon, former chief executive of the Peabody Coal Co., have pumped $12 million into Stamet.

"We are fortunate to have about 30 private individuals who have backed us, and they are entitled to a handsome return, given the risks," says Winston. "The venture capital firms tend to be interested in medical or high-tech businesses. The basic manufacturing is not for them."

Still, after a couple of years of profits, Winston says a public stock offering is a likelihood in the next couple of years.

Spotlight

Stamet Inc.

Year Founded: 1987

Headquarters: Gardena

Core Business: Manufacturing pumps to move solids, such as coal or cement

Employees in 1987: 1

Employees in 1996:n 17

Sales in 1994: None

Sales in 1996: $2 million est.

Top Executive: Morton Winston

Goal: To expand uses of pumps into other markets beyond utilities, and possibly to go public (issue stock).

Driving Force: Revolutionizing the manufacturing processes of many industries.