Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania today, October 1, 2007 formally announced that they had invested $120,000 in Carbon Trap Technologies. The investment loan covers the period October 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008.  Additional loans are possible for the following two years with a total potential of $500,000.  No interest accrues, and no payments are due, until the final loan payment has been made.

This competitively-based financing puts Carbon Trap on a firm financial footing as we begin the process of scaling up the laboratory-scale process defined by Dirk Van Essendelft in his patent application, “Processes and Systems for the Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide Utilizing Effluent Streams.”  The patent application, number 20070217981, was formally published on September 20, 2007 by the United States Patent Office.

Carbon Trap Technologies has also applied for a trademark on the term “Carbon Trap” to be used in conjunction with products and services that we develop in the course of business.

Carbon Trap moved into new laboratory space at 1981 Pine Hall Drive, State College, PA this week.  We are currently looking for two experienced laboratory chemists and a consulting engineer to work through the experimental protocol that we have designed.  This will allow us to reach our goal of a building a working bench scale reaction process by Spring 2008.

Ben Franklin cited a number of reasons for supporting Carbon Trap Technologies, including our success at raising private funds (including the Ben Franklin Loan we have a combination of cash and pledges totaling over $480,000 at this time, and our offering will remain open for about another month); our management team made up of persons with business, legal, scientific and academic experience; and our openness to new ideas and the suggestions of others.

We continue to meet with potential industrial representatives who are seeking to line up means of mitigating their carbon footprint as they grapple with the likelihood of regulation combined with the lack of proven solutions.  Carbon Trap’s research and development schedule is poised to deliver products and services as the demand for them firms up in the marketplace.  For the moment we are balancing a need for fiscal prudence with the need to explore emerging technological opportunities.  We are ensuring that our intellectual property is well protected on the one hand, and that we are continually exploring the best use of our funds on the other.