ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE) today announced that
it has entered into an agreement with Synthesis Energy Systems (SES)
that provides SES the option to execute up to fifteen Methanol to
Gasoline technology licenses in their global operations. SES has chosen
to assign the first license to a project near Benwood, West Virginia.
This approximate 7,000 barrel per calendar day unit will be based on
commercially proven MTG technology which incorporates improvements since
the technology was originally commercialized by ExxonMobil 20 years ago
in New Zealand.
MTG converts crude methanol directly to low sulfur, low benzene gasoline
that can be sold directly or blended with conventional refinery
gasoline. Although the original application of the MTG technology
processed methanol from natural gas, the same technology can be used for
methanol from other sources such as coal, petcoke or biomass. The SES
projects will gasify the coal, convert the synthetic gas to methanol,
and then convert the methanol to gasoline via the MTG process.
Conversion of coal to gasoline through gasification and methanol
conversion is one way to significantly reduce the potential pollutants
from coal, including the reduction of SOx
emissions and the capture of CO2.
EMRE is the research and engineering arm of Exxon Mobil Corporation
(NYSE:XOM), a leading global oil, natural gas, and petrochemicals
company whose subsidiaries have operations in nearly 200 countries and
territories. Additional information regarding ExxonMobil and
technologies it licenses can be found at http://www.exxonmobil.com/refiningtechnologies.
SES is focused on converting coal to higher priced products by
investment in a project with a short construction schedule at a lower
capital cost, and a closer proximity to a coal sources. More information
can be found at http://www.synthesisenergy.com.
ExxonMobil
Prem Nair, 703-846-4467
