GE Energy Licenses its Gasification Technology for Coal-to-Methanol Plant in China
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High Pressure Gasifier Technology Expected to Reduce Operating Investment
BEIJING, CHINA-July 15, 2009-GE Energy today signed an agreement to license its gasification technology to the Pucheng Clean Energy Chemical Company Ltd. (PCEC), a joint venture of Shaanxi Coal & Chemical Industry Group Company Limited and China Three Gorges Project Company. China National Chemical Construction Shaanxi Import & Export Company is the project agency.
Participating in today's signing ceremony were U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, China dignitaries and senior executives from GE Energy, Shaanxi Coal & Chemical Industry Group Company Limited, Pucheng Clean Energy Chemical Company and China National Chemical Construction Shaanxi Import & Export Company. Secretary Locke and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu are traveling in China to highlight the potential for mutually beneficial relationships in the clean energy sector.
The agreement will include the licensing of GE's well-proven gasification technology, a process design package, technical services and equipment supply.
"GE's gasification technology has been licensed by 38 facilities in China, allowing chemicals manufacturers to use successfully a variety of relatively inexpensive local coals to create a wide variety of industrial chemicals and fuels," said Jason Crew, director, gasification products, Asia, for GE Energy. "This experience gives our licensees an edge in China's increasingly competitive chemical production industry."
As gasification projects in China get larger and more complex, advanced technologies such as GE's high-pressure gasification technology are critical to reducing overall project cost.
Annually, the PCEC plant is expected to convert coal into 1.8 million tons of methanol, which then can be converted into material for a variety of consumer and industrial applications. The Pucheng plant will operate with GE's high-pressure gasification configuration. This high-pressure gasifier technology is expected to reduce the capital and operating investment required for downstream processes used to manufacture methanol, thereby reducing the cost of production of methanol.
GE Energy's gasification technology is at the front end of the company's "cleaner coal" Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) solution that uses coal to generate power, removing many of the pollutants and offering the ability to capture carbon for future sequestration. GE Energy has been at the forefront of IGCC technology for more than two decades. GE technology was involved in several milestone projects, including the pilot IGCC plant, Coolwater, in Barstow, Calif., and the Polk Tampa Electric IGCC plant in Florida that helped demonstrate the commercial feasibility of IGCC. GE also is supplying IGCC technology for Duke Energy's plant in Edwardsport, Ind. that is expected to be the world's largest IGCC facility when it comes online in 2012. The company is working on opportunities to deploy IGCC technology around the globe.
About GE Energy
GE Energy (www.ge.com/energy) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies, with 2008 revenue of $29.3 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy works in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels. Numerous GE Energy products are certified under ecomagination, GE's corporate-wide initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet pressing environmental challenges.
About GE
GE is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that is built to meet essential world needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com. GE is Imagination at Work.
For more information contact:
Cynthia Coleman
GE Energy
t: +1 713 803 0459
e: Cynthia.coleman@ge.com
Ken Darling
Masto Public Relations
t: +1 518 786 6488
e: kenneth.darling@ge.com
Howard Masto
Masto Public Relations
t: + 1 518 786 6488
e: howard.masto@ge.com
e: information@mastopr.com
