Norwich Evening News 24 -
[Cached Version]
Last Visited: 1/31/2005
Richard Hicks, 59, is president of the California-based H2Oil Corporation, which produces a fuel additive that mixes water and petrol or diesel to make it burn more cleanly and more efficiently.
His company has just signed a joint venture agreement with PetroChina's Tianjin Huafu Oilfield Chemicals Company to produce this product for use in billions of gallons of fuel.
The official signing of the multi-million pound contract with the Chinese government is scheduled to take place in the People's Hall in Tiannamen Square, Beijing, next month.
It is a long way from his early years in Norwich, where he still has family.
Mr Hicks, who now lives in California, said: "I was born in the city, my mother was born in the city and so was my grandfather, who used to work for Colman's.
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Having trained as a mechanical engineer, Mr Hicks decided to emigrate to the United States in 1982 with his wife Jan.The couple now live in the Sierra Nevada foothills, where they own about 10 acres.
Mr Hicks founded H2Oil Corporation with business partner Ben Song in October 1990.
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Although chemical engineering was not Mr Hicks' field of expertise, he put his problem-solving skills to use, and through experimentation found out how to "dissolve" water into petrol and diesel fuel.