Claflin’s grandson, Chris Kasten, pitched the idea at the University of California, Davis' Graduate School of Management's 2003 Big Bang!
[6] Sierra’s 20 metric ton per day gasifier at Fort Hunter Liggett was built in 2017 and will be testing multiple product outputs including electricity and renewable diesel.
[7] In 2019, Sierra closed a $33 million Series A investment round led by Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
Instead of using air as traditional blast furnaces do, gasification injects oxygen and steam instead, resulting in extremely high temperatures (2000 °C) that drive the chemical reaction to break down waste without producing ash or other contaminants that need to be landfilled.
[8] Sierra's first facility was built in partnership with the U.S. Army and the California Energy Commission at Fort Hunter Liggett.