About Us

Over 40 years in the coal industry and 30 years specifically in sub-bituminous coals.

Mr. Rahm founded CoalTech Consultants, Inc. in March of 2008 following nearly two years in the ethanol industry as the COO of Ethanex Energy, Inc. a startup ethanol company.

Formerly the Director, Fuel Services for Westar Energy, Inc., Mr. Rahm was responsible for the coal procurement of over 13 million tons of PRB coals annually and a transportation fleet of over 1,800 coal railcars.

Prior to joining Westar Energy in 1999, Mr. Rahm was the Special Projects Manager for Amax Coal West, Inc. in Gillette, WY. From 1991-1993 he managed the world’s largest commercial sub-bituminous coal dryer located at the Amax Belle Ayr Mine. The Coal Dryer Project conducted extensive research in the areas of reducing the dried PRB coal’s reactive characteristics, dust suppression chemicals for the treatment of the enormous amount of super fine coal dust generated during the drying process, explosion characteristics, spontaneous combustion and coal dust fire-fighting procedures.

Following the closure of the Coal Drying Project Mr. Rahm worked with the company’s coal sales group providing their electric power company customers with comprehensive coal-handling risk assessments. This was the beginning of what is now an industry service provided by numerous vendors including CoalTech Consulting, Inc.

Mr. Rahm was also employed with McNally Pittsburg, Inc. for 14 years as a senior project manager, engineering and constructing coal dryers, coal silos, coal preparation plants and handling systems throughout the United States and Canada.

Mr. Rahm has been a contributing editor and has authored many articles for POWER, Coal Power and World Coal magazines. He has given presentations at conferences including Edison Electric Institute, National Coal Transportation Association, American Coal Council, ASME, Electric Power, POWER-GEN, AEGIS Seminar, PRB Coal Users’ Group, PRB Coal Symposium, Philippines Coal Plant Users’ Group Conference, Asian SBC Users’ Group Conference, Power & Electricity Conference Indonesia and at numerous electric utilities.

Mr. Rahm is an inventor on U.S. Patent 6,086,647 for a coal dust suppressant.

Mr. Rahm is a past chair of the ASME’s Fuels and Combustion Technology (FACT) Division and is the founder, a former chairman and presently the executive director of the PRB Coal Users’ Group. The PRB Coal Users’ Group has over 2,000 members of which 1,254 are from 82 operating companies. Mr. Rahm assisted in the founding of the Asian SBC Users’ Group. The 6th Asian SBC Users’ Group Conference was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in October 2016.

Mr. Rahm was appointed to the National Coal Council by the U.S. Secretary of Energy from 2006 - 2015. In 2008 Mr. Rahm was a party appointed arbitrator in an AAA arbitration in a coal industry related dispute. A decision was rendered by the panel of three arbitrators following the arbitration hearing.

Mr. Rahm was been retained by utilities as an expert witness in several coal related lawsuits and has provided expert reports and testimony.

Past Clients:
CoalTech Consultants, Inc. and myself prior to forming CoalTech have provided consulting services to the following companies: Southern Company, First Energy, NPPD, PacifiCorp, NRG Texas, Westar Energy, KCP&L, Kansas City Board of Public Utilities, City of Colorado Springs, Dynegy Midwest Gen, DTE, Hazard Control Technologies, Fuel Tech, Roberts & Schaeffer Co., NRG - Huntley and Dunkirk Plants, Atlantic City Electric Co., Lafarge NA, Inland Steel, Peabody CoalTrade, OG&E, CH2M Hill, Ontario Power Generation, we energies, TAQA’s Jorf Lasfar Energy Co. Morocco, Steelcase, Holcim US, SynCoal Solutions, GP Consumer Products, Hong Kong Electric, CLP’s Castle Peak Power Station, Alpha Coal Sales, Inc., FM Global, Patrick Engineering, OPPD, LG&E, Drax Power Ltd., Solid Energy New Zealand, Constellation Energy, Dearborn Mid-West Conveyor, GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Philippines, Glow Energy Thailand and TNB JANAMANJUNG SDN. BHD Malaysia, Sarangani Energy Philippines, CRH US, Quezon Power Philippines, Chubu Electric Japan, Jaguar Energy Guatemala. PTLU Baten 2 Labuan Indonesia, IPMOMI Paiton Units #7 & 8 Indonesia, Malakoff Power Tanjung Bin Power Plant Malaysia and SCG Packaging Thailand.