HOUSTON, Dec.22, 2010 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. ("SES") (NASDAQ: SYMX), a global energy and gasification technology company, announced today the successful completion of a commercial-scale demonstration test in which more than 2,000 tons of high ash coal from Queensland, Australia, were gasified at its Zao Zhuang plant in Shandong Province, China starting from Dec. 7th, 2010. The syngas produced during the test met all production performance specifications, including greater than 98% carbon conversion. The resulting syngas was sold to Hai Hua Coal and Chemical Company.
The test was conducted by SES in response to the significant interest it has received from Ambre Energy of Australia, which intends to build a coal-to-gasoline/LPG plant near Toowoomba, Australia, with a capacity of 18,000 barrels per day. During the test, SES demonstrated its ability to efficiently process Ambre's low-to-medium rank, 42.6% ash content coal.
Francis Lau, Chief Technology Officer of SES, said, "During this test, conducted with observers from Ambre Energy present, SES achieved carbon conversions of 98% and the gasification process was stable. Although the Zao Zhuang plant was designed for bituminous middlings waste coal, the test results from Ambre's high ash coal demonstrated once again the flexibility of the SES U-GAS(R) process to handle a wide range of feedstock compositions, including low rank and high ash content coals."
"SES's U-GAS(R) technology demonstrated excellent performance in gasifying our high ash coal," stated Edek Choros, CEO and Managing Director of Ambre Energy. "As a result, we will move forward in our negotiations with SES for a license agreement."
Mr. Choros added, "Most importantly, we witnessed our coal being gasified at the Zao Zhuang plant in real time. This gave us and our investors in the project added confidence that we can create significant value from our coal reserves."
Lignite and low rank coals are abundant in many regions of the world and are typically the lowest cost coals to mine. In Australia, for example, this high ash coal can cost up to 90% less on a thermal basis than more widely used low ash, higher rank coals. This saving can be translated into compelling economics for coal based energy and chemical projects.
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