MASADA'S TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT    Masada and its affiliates developed its core CES OxyNolTM Process to safely treat and dispose of garbage and sewage sludge while generating ethanol, a renewable clean burning fuel.  The OxyNol Process is the only fully developed and demonstrated commercial process that produces ethanol from municipal wastes. Masada solved the economic problems that have plagued the ethanol industry by utilizing the fees generated from waste disposal (a "negative cost" feedstock) and using the lignin output product for internal energy needs.  Conversely, existing ethanol producers are subject to volatile feedstock prices, such as the price for corn, and natural gas prices for their energy needs.  By improving on a proven process that existed for decades, Masada created a patented and proprietary process that overcame technological and economic hurdles. The OxyNol Process was the result of a public-private research partnership among Masada, the Department of Energy together with its National Renewable Energy Laboratory ("NREL") and the Tennessee Valley Authority ("TVA") together with its partner, Mississippi State University.  Since 1979, TVA has conducted research on hydrolysis and fermentation to convert cellulosic biomass material to ethanol and other products.  Though it is based upon a core process that was widely utilized in World War II, the current OxyNol Process represents the successful culmination of years of research, development and demonstration for commercial deployment.  Masada tested the OxyNol Process and major vendor equipment extensively at the TVA biomass-to-ethanol conversion facility in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.  In Masada's process development phase, cellulose separated from MSW was successfully converted to sugar via acid hydrolysis.  The sugar was then fermented and distilled to produce ethanol.  Masada added key economic technologies to make the entire process commercially viable. TVA's Biotechnical Research Department was under contract with Masada and its affiliates beginning in 1993 to conduct proprietary research on the Process.  Masada and its affiliates, through nine domestic and sixty international patents, have developed a process that can utilize municipal wastes as a feedstock, while dealing with its handling problems and contaminants such as heavy metals which are generally present in municipal wastes. The continuous process consists of a series of simple unit operations.  Each of these steps is proven and is used today in existing industries, primarily paper processing and pharmaceuticals.