Overview of ambreCTL process. Click to enlarge.

Ambre intends to integrate this technical study with its engineering work on the overall ambreCTL project that it is developing in Queensland, Australia.

The ambreCTL project, when completed, will produce approximately 18,000 bbl/day of gasoline and about 40 million gallons per year of LPG. SES’ U-GAS gasification technology is intended to convert approximately four million tons of low-rank, high-ash coal annually into syngas for subsequent conversion into methanol, which, in turn, will be converted to zero-sulfur unleaded gasoline and LPG using ExxonMobil’s MTG technology.

CO₂ will be captured in high purity form for geosequestration or industrial uses, Ambre says, but can initially be vented onsite.

In a coal test run performed in December 2010 at SES’ commercial coal gasification project in Shandong Province, China, SES achieved greater than 98% carbon conversion with Ambre Energy’s low-rank Australian coal intended for use in the ambreCTL project.

SES provides technology, equipment and engineering services for the conversion of low-rank, low-cost coal and biomass feedstocks into energy and chemical products. Its strategy is to create value through providing technology and equipment in regions where low-rank coals and biomass feedstocks can be profitably converted into high value products through its proprietary U-GAS fluidized bed gasification technology, which SES licenses from the Gas Technology Institute.