U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported) October 2, 2000
RENTECH, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Colorado 0-19260 84-0957421
(State of incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer
Identification No.)
1331 17th Street, Suite 720, Denver, Colorado 80202 80202
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
(303) 298-8008
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
N/A
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)
Item 5. Other Events.
Rentech, Inc. has agreed to conduct a study on the feasibility of
using its patented and proprietary Fischer-Tropsch
Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) process to convert industrial off-gas (IOG) into
sulfur-free and aromatic-free GTL products. The work includes preparing
a design for feeding the industrial off-gas into a GTL plant that would
be constructed at the site of the industrial plant. The owner of the
industrial plant will pay for the study.
The work is to be performed for a major chemical company for a
chemical facility located in the United States. The parties have agreed
to keep all aspects of the agreement confidential, but they expect the
work to take approximately 60 to 90 days. In the event the results are
positive and the chemical company decides to proceed with construction of
a GTL plant, Rentech expects that production of liquid hydrocarbon
products from the industrial plant off-gases could start as early as
2002.
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Rentech's preliminary indications are that adaptations of industrial
plants to provide feedstock for GTL plants can be built at a cost of
approximately $8,000 to $10,000 per daily barrel of production with 12 to
18 months of construction work before commencement of production. In
comparison, costs of greenfield GTL projects fed by natural gas are
currently stated to be at $20,000 to $30,000 per daily barrel with three
to five year lag times to reach producing status.
Rentech's management believes that industrial off-gas appears to be
a suitable and inexpensive feedstock for Rentech's GTL technology, which
uses a flexible iron-based catalyst. Most industrial plants cannot be
retrofitted effectively to use cobalt-based GTL processes. The hydrogen-
to-carbon monoxide ratio of the off-gases produced from many industrial
plants are normally outside the minimum 2:1 ratio considered necessary
for cobalt catalysts.
Countries around the world are implementing stricter regulations on
the release of emissions from industrial off-gases and the flaring of
these gases. Rentech's management believes its GTL process could provide
a cost-effective and profitable method to control the problem and
sequester the harmful carbon dioxide emissions contained in the
industrial off-gases by converting these gases into high-value clean
fuels for use in vehicles, fuel cells and as chemical feedstocks.
Certain portions of this release may contain "forward-looking"
statements as defined by the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and within the meaning of
Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Any number of important factors could
cause actual results to differ materially from those in the
forward-looking statements herein, including market acceptance of
Rentech's GTL technology, ability to economically construct, retrofit and
operate plants using the technology, and profitable marketing of the
liquid hydrocarbon products. For more information concerning factors
that could cause such a difference, see the Company's annual report on
Form 10-KSB and quarterly reports on Form 10-QSB, filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Although Rentech believes its
statements to be reasonable, investors are cautioned that such
forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties. The company
undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions
to any such forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events
or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events.
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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by
the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
RENTECH, INC.
By: (signature)
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Dennis L. Yakobson, President
Date: October 6, 2000
