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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gasification Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (662)	2/19/2007 12:53:17 PM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

Main Construction Contract for SES' First Coal Gasification Facility Awarded marketwire.com HOUSTON, TX -- (MARKET WIRE) -- February 19, 2007 -- Synthesis Energy Systems ("SES" or the "Company") (OTC: SYMX) announced that SES (Zaozhuang) New Gas Company, Ltd., its 95%-owned joint venture (the "Joint Venture") with Shandong Hai Hua Coal & Chemical Company Ltd. ("Hai Hua"), signed the main construction contract for its first coal gasification facility of low rank coals in China. With this contract, construction of the new 28,000 Normal cubic meters ("Ncum") per hour coal gasification facility in Shandong Province, China (the "Project") continues to progress according to schedule. The Project will use the U-GAS® licensed technology to cleanly convert low rank coal to synthesis gas ("syngas"). Pursuant to the terms of the contract, the Shanghai Wuye Construction Company, Ltd. ("Wuye") will provide the Project's civil construction and related project equipment and piping installation. Wuye was previously assigned the Project's initial civil work, which was completed in early February 2007. The Project is targeting substantial mechanical completion by mid summer of 2007, and the start-up to begin in the third quarter of this year. Upon successful start-up, the Company is hoping to also begin commercial operations during the third quarter, less than one year from the Project's initial ground breaking in December 2006. Preparations for the Project have been ongoing since the Joint Venture began in August 2006. Upon successful start-up, the Project will provide approximately 100 jobs in the local community, and will be a part of expanding Shandong's economic diversification, as well as supporting the clean and efficient conversion of low-rank fuels into a stable, affordable supply of energy and chemicals. Hai Hua will use the syngas produced from the coal gasification facility as a feedstock for its newly constructed methanol plant, and as a fuel in its coke ovens and for its internal power generation facility. Future expansion plans would increase capacity up to 100,000 Ncum per hour and would accommodate Hai Hua's planned increase in methanol production and meet the gas demands of other Xuecheng industrial park tenants. The Project is an important milestone in SES' growth strategy and the first among a number of additional project opportunities SES' international marketing and business development team is pursuing in Asia, Europe and the United States. Worldwide, SES is rapidly developing and commercializing alternative energy and chemical projects, technologies and systems based on the "clean" gasification of low-cost fuel sources and establishing U-GAS® as a reliable and efficient alternative source of energy and chemical products to manufacturers. Tim Vail, SES President and CEO, stated, "The signing of this agreement further strengthens our commitment to complete the Project on time and on budget. Wuye has clearly demonstrated their ability to deliver as promised given their successful completion of the Project's initial civil work. Given Wuye's excellent performance, the Project is moving according to schedule, and if the start-up proceeds as anticipated we are positioned to achieve commercial operation as planned later this year." "We're excited to continue our rapid progress towards our goal of building and owning our first U-GAS® coal gasification plant in China that provides a cost-effective and environmentally responsible solution for Hai Hua's syngas needs and pleased to have the support of Wuye as our main construction contractor to help us achieve this significant development," concluded Vail. About Synthesis Energy Systems Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. is an energy and technology company that deploys proprietary systems and technology to efficiently and cleanly gasify low value fuels to replace high cost energy and chemical products sold to major global markets. The U-GAS® technology, which the Company licensed from the Gas Technology Institute, is designed to turn waste coal products into high value synthesis gas for use in power and chemical applications. The technology performs this gasification without many of the harmful emissions normally associated with coal fired energy production. SES currently has offices in Houston, Texas, Shanghai and Beijing, China. For more information on SES, visit www.synthesisenergy.com or call (713) 579-0600. [snip]

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (662)	2/23/2007 10:00:46 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

Interview: SES' Vail on clean coal By KRISTYN ECOCHARD UPI Energy Correspondent upi.com WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- With demand for energy growing globally, more than 1 percent annually in the United States alone, discussion is picking up on ways to meet the demand. The United States has the world's largest proven coal reserves and using that asset in an environmentally conscious way has become a major focus of the U.S. Department of Energy as well as energy industry players and, especially, members of the growing coal-gasification market. In response, Synthesis Energy Systems recently began construction on a coal gasification plant in China and is touting its exclusive technology. United Press International spoke with Tim Vail, president and chief executive officer of SES. The company specializes in clean conversion of low-value feedstock into high-value commodity products. It has the global exclusive rights to a gasification technology called U-GAS, which was developed by the Gas Technology Institute in Chicago over the last 30 years. UPI. What's on the table right now for SES and what's coming up in the near future? Vail. We currently are building a U-GAS plant in Shandong, China, that will take waste coal and supply clean syngas to a methanol chemical plant. We are also actively pursuing two other larger projects, one here in the United States to re-power an existing 60 megawatt coal-combustion facility with clean coal gasification technology. The output will be quadrupled and emissions will be cut in half. The other project is a fairly large 250,000 ton per year methanol facility in northern China. Q. Is SES planning on getting involved in the emerging coal-to-liquids market? A. The first step in any coal-to-liquids process is to gasify that coal and then you can take it through Fisher-Tropsch or an ethanol conversion process. We are in discussions with two fairly significant coal-to-liquids players. We would like to be part of those projects where we either are doing the coal gasification piece or the biomass gasification piece. I think as those projects move forward, we will likely have an opportunity to participate in those plans. Q. Critics say clean coal is only clean to the effect that it reduces emissions but miners and mining towns still suffer the negative side effects of handling coal. Is SES doing anything to improve other aspects of the coal gasification process? A. The plants that we're currently building and the other plants that we've got on the drawing board here in the United States are actually taking waste coal products. This is product that would normally end up either in a landfill or in glom piles or middlings piles around coal mines and this is the tailings of the cleansing process for coal that moves on to combustion plants. By using that waste coal, we are cleaning up the mess around some of the existing coals. We also use higher ash, lower quality lignite coals that are not mined in the traditional way. Also, petcoke is used which is shipped from a refinery and not mined at all. Q. What is the difference between U-GAS and Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle and what is SES doing in respect to IGCC? A. Just like in the liquification process there has to be a step within any IGCC plant and so we can take coal and turn it into power, that's what the project in the Midwest is going to be doing. But where we differ from some of the bigger players like Shell and GE is that they're using high grade coals and are suited to larger IGCC plants. A lot of the challenges in this business come from trying to build an 800 megawatt, $1 billion plant. There's a lot of work from all sides including regulatory, technology and contracting and it takes a long time. Using a fluidized bed technology allows us to gasify a variety of coals efficiently on a much smaller scale. We are profitable running on a 200 megawatt scale and that opens up a lot of opportunities that can be finished more quickly. Q. Critics of coal gasification say it is energy inefficient because it uses energy to process the coal. Is SES different than other coal gasification technologies in that regard? A. You might use alternative fuel to get the gasification plant started but that only takes a few days. Once it's up and running, you use the primary feedstock, whether is lignite, or waste coal or petcoke. Coal gasification is a very efficient process. Depending on who you talk to, it's between 15 and 20 percent more efficient than coal combustion technologies, so I don't really see energy use inefficiency as a legitimate argument against investing in clean coal. We don't use any outside energy to run our plants. We do recognize that coal gasification is not as well proven as pulverized coal or fluidized bed coal combustion plants, but coal will have to play a role in providing more electricity. Around the world other countries are using coal gasification efficiently and it needs to be accepted in the United States. Q. What outside fuel costs influence the competitiveness of U-GAS coal gasification? A. It's all about natural gas pricing. In the United States and in China we compete with delivered natural gas prices. To the extent that those gas prices stay where they are or move up that's good for our business; we could continue to expand rapidly in that environment. Over the last 20 years, the United States was able to depend on natural gas as a clean, cheap, reliable energy source but with rising prices , we're at the end of that opportunity. Q. What regulatory framework do you think would make U-GAS more cost competitive? A. We would like to see regulators embrace coal gasification as a way for us to utilize our vast indigenous coal resources. Coal gasification is really the only way to do that cleanly. Focus on carbon dioxide would also be welcome. SES plants produce carbon dioxide from coal in a concentrated form that can be used in many other processes. As sequestration technologies advance, we would like to see a value placed on that carbon dioxide, possibly in the form of a carbon tax, credits or cap and trade program. Q. How can the coal gasification industry be further advanced? A. By proposing, siting and building smaller plants in larger numbers, coal gasification can gain more confidence. Utilities are all about reliability and it makes sense that they would be reticent to make a billion dollar decision on a technology that isn't fully understood. But there may be more of an opportunity for SES to build smaller, $200 million projects. It's easier for engineering companies and banks to get involved with smaller projects. We're going to get things built in a matter of three years, not seven. -- (Comments to energy@upi.com)

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (662)	6/9/2007 2:16:17 PM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

SES to build CTL plant in China (Agencies) Updated: 2007-06-08 15:13 chinadaily.com.cn US's Synthesis Energy Systems Investments Inc. announced a contract with Golden Concord to build a coal gasification plant in Inner Mongolia, China. The Houston-based energy and technology company is involved in three projects in China, seeking to involve the country in the pursuit for cleaner energy. China and the United States are in similar situations, trying to meet growing demand with as little environmental impact as possible. China already has a goal to meet 10 percent of its domestic fuel needs with coal-to-liquids by 2020. The plant in China will seek to optimize coal reserves to meet China's growing need for clean transportation fuels and chemical feedstock. Synthesis Energy Systems Investments Inc. is a subsidiary of Synthesis Energy Systems Inc., and Inner Mongolia Golden Concord Energy Co. Ltd. is a subsidiary of Golden Concord Holdings Ltd., a private Chinese electricity provider. The joint venture plant will use low value, abundant lignites from coal mines to meet the region's growing need for clean, affordable non-petroleum-based fuels and petrochemical feedstock. "Working together, SES and Golden Concord are demonstrating their commitment to develop cleaner, high-quality fuels, at a lower cost based on the utilization of the U-GAS technology to gasify low quality, high-ash coals to supply China's growing appetite for clean fuels and petrochemicals that fuel economic development," said Tim Vail, president and chief executive officer of SES.

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (662)	10/15/2007 3:17:04 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1740

SES, Hai Hua Waste Coal-to-Methanol Gasification Plant Achieves Substantial Completion Plant Construction Moves to Commissioning and Operating Phase for Q407 Project Completion SOURCE: Synthesis Energy Systems Oct 09, 2007 11:53 ET marketwire.com HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwire - October 9, 2007) - Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. ("SES" or the "Company") (OTC: SYMX) announced that SES (Zaozhuang) New Gas Company, Ltd., its joint venture with Shandong Hai Hua Coal & Chemical Company Ltd. ("Hai Hua"), achieved substantial completion on its 28,000 normal cubic meters per hour of synthesis gas ("syngas") coal gasification facility in Shandong Province, China. David Nicoll, Senior Vice President Engineering of SES, stated, "This marks a significant milestone in the development of our first U-GAS® gasification facility in China. Despite an abnormally wet summer in China, we were able to meet this challenging project deadline on time. With substantial completion behind us, we have now begun commissioning process units and heating the gasification blocks in preparation of producing commercial syngas at this facility which, when completed, will be the only commercial scale gasification plant of its kind in operation." Added Donald Bunnell, President and CEO of SES - Asia Pacific, "Like our other two coal-to-chemical projects now underway in China and in various stages of development, we believe that this project will utilize China's abundant, low value coal reserves to help meet a growing need for clean, affordable non-petroleum based fuels and chemicals to fuel a growing economy." This plant will use SES' licensed U-GAS® technology to convert low-cost waste coal into syngas. Hai Hua, an independent producer of metallurgical coke, coal gas and methanol, will use the syngas produced from the coal gasification facility in its 100,000 tonne per year methanol plant, as fuel in its coke ovens and for its on-site power generation facility. This project continues to target initial syngas sales to Hai Hua in the fourth quarter of 2007. Future expansion plans would increase capacity to accommodate a planned increase in methanol production by Hai Hua, and to meet other gas and chemical demands. About Synthesis Energy Systems Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. is an energy and technology company that deploys proprietary systems and technology to gasify low value fuels to replace high cost energy and chemical products sold to major global markets. The U-GAS® technology, which the Company licenses from the Gas Technology Institute, is designed to turn high-ash coals and waste coal products into high value synthesis gas for use in power and chemical applications. The technology gasifies coal without many of the harmful emissions associated with coal combustion plants. SES currently has offices in Houston, Texas, Shanghai and Beijing, China. For more information on SES, visit www.synthesisenergy.com or call (713) 579-0600. [snip]

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (662)	11/3/2007 10:48:42 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. Announces Listing of its Common Stock on NASDAQ Friday November 2, 8:00 am ET biz.yahoo.com HOUSTON, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. (the "Company") (Nasdaq: SYMX - News) announced today that its common stock has been listed on The NASDAQ Capital Market. Trading of its common stock will commence at the opening of the market on November 2, 2007 under the symbol "SYMX." About Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. The Company is an energy and technology company that deploys proprietary systems and technology to gasify low value fuels to replace high cost energy and chemical products sold to major global markets. The U-GAS® technology, which the Company licenses from the Gas Technology Institute, is designed to turn high-ash coals and waste coal products into high value synthesis gas for use in chemical applications or as a feedstock for producing transportation fuels. The technology gasifies coal without many of the harmful emissions normally associated with coal combustion plants. The Company currently has offices in Houston, Texas, Shanghai and Beijing, China. For more information on the Company, visit synthesisenergy.com or call (713) 579-0600.

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (662)	11/27/2007 7:38:41 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. Plans Coal-to-Methanol Project in China with Major U.S.-Based Multinational Chemical Company U-GAS(r) technology would optimize coal reserves and produce useful chemical feedstocks to supply China's growing petrochemical fuel needs November 26, 2007: 03:59 PM EST money.cnn.com HOUSTON, Nov. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. ("SES") announced the execution of a Project Development Agreement (the "Development Agreement") with a major multinational chemical company (the "Chemical Company") to perform feasibility studies and devise plans for the potential development of a coal-to-methanol gasification plant in China. The planned plant would support the Chemical Company's facilities in the Peoples Republic of China, and address the region's increased demand for clean petrochemical feedstocks. "SES is proud to add this large industrial multinational player to its strategic partners, which includes the Gas Technology Institute, CONSOL Energy and AEI. These companies are committed to sustainable clean energy solutions through the use of low-cost and environmentally responsible modern U-GAS(r) coal gasification technology," said SES President and Chief Executive Officer Tim Vail. The planned plant will use SES' global exclusive U-GAS(r) technology to convert China's coal reserves into a synthesis gas ("syngas"), composed primarily of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The syngas can be used as a basic building block in the petrochemical and refining industries. This plant is intended to further refine the syngas into methanol, an organic raw commodity widely used in manufacturing chemical products including plastics, paints, and construction materials. The capacity of this plant would be similar in size to SES' two other coal-to-chemical projects currently underway in China. "The global methanol market is expanding, especially in China where the demand for methanol as a transportation fuel has grown at a particularly fast pace during the past decade," said Vail. According to a China Methanol Industry Forecast by C&G Consulting, China's methanol market reached approximately 8.2 million metric tons in 2006. "Both production and demand for methanol are expected to continue to grow. We believe this proposed project, along with our three other active coal-to-chemical projects in China, should play an important role in strengthening China's energy security while minimizing the impact on the environment," concluded Vail. The application of the U-GAS(r) technology offers significant economical and environmental advantages that are encouraged by the Chinese government. The primary advantage of U-GAS(r) relative to other gasification technologies is its overall low cost, made possible by fuel flexibility, low operational cost, and the technology's ability to economically scale projects to meet the needs of industrial customers. U-GAS(r) technology produces much lower levels of regulated emissions, including sulfur oxides, nitrous oxides and particulates, than conventional coal combustion plants. It also allows for the low-cost capture of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The Development Agreement covers a number of project development phases. During phase one, SES will conduct feasibility studies to identify the optimum site for the construction of the proposed plant in order to ensure adequate coal supply, coal and methanol transport costs and the permitting process. Subject to a successful plant-site designation, SES will conduct additional scoping work that will include further definition of project design, schedules and costs. The Development Agreement requires the successful completion of these project development phases, at which point further negotiation of a definitive agreement by both parties would be undertaken before initiating any projects. Either SES or the Chemical Company may terminate the Development Agreement prior to the completion of the feasibility and other studies related to the proposed plant. About Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. The Company is an energy and technology company that deploys proprietary systems and technology to gasify low value fuels to replace high cost energy and chemical products sold to major global markets. The U-GAS(r) technology, which the Company licenses from the Gas Technology Institute, is designed to turn high-ash coals and waste coal products into high value synthesis gas for use in chemical applications or as a feedstock for producing transportation fuels. The technology gasifies coal without many of the harmful emissions normally associated with coal combustion plants. The Company currently has offices in Houston, Texas, Shanghai and Beijing, China. For more information on the Company, visit synthesisenergy.com or call (713) 579-0600. Forward Looking Statements [snip]