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April 3, 2026 - Frontieras North America broke ground Thursday on a commercial facility in Mason County, WV that will use a new patented process it says brings hope to the coal industry. Frontieras, an energy and environmental tech company, developed the process it calls FASForm Solid Carbon Fractionation, which breaks coal into subcomponents.
“There’s valuable things inside of coal and for 100 years, it’s been a missed opportunity. It’s been a blind spot in the world of energy,” said Frontieras CEO Matthew McKean.
 Construction has already begun at the future site of a new Frontieras plant in Mason County, West Virginia.
Those broken-down subcomponents, McKean said, are used to produce multiple products including diesel fuel.
“We produce on this site from phase one about 15,000 barrels a day of ultra-low sulfur diesel. We crack it right out of the coal and we treat it, and it’s the same diesel you could put in your Chevy or your Ford,” McKean said.
Other byproducts include sulfuric acid, ammonia sulfate fertilizer and a carbon product known as coke that’s used in steel manufacturing.
“And so we look forward to breathing life into coal country, expanding coal production long-term. This project is plant one, one plant that will produce over $1 billion per year in annual revenue,” McKean said to the applause of dignitaries, including Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
The company expects to create about 2,000 construction jobs during building, and roughly 300 full-time jobs it says will pay an average annual salary of $100,000.
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