SES looks to upgrade ChinaÆs ammonia industry

Houston — Synthesis Energy Systems Inc. (SES) said April 5 that it has entered into a cooperation framework agreement for coal-to-ammonia for the fertilizer market in China with Beijing Zhonghuan Engineering & Project Management Co. Ltd. (ZEP). Under the agreement, SES and ZEP will jointly explore undertaking a nitrogenous fertilizer retrofit project using SES’ U-GAS® gasification technology, with the goal of developing it into a demonstration project. If the results of this undertaking are successful, SES and ZEP intend to establish an exclusive cooperation based upon retrofitting many of the existing ammonia projects in the nitrogenous fertilizer industry in China with SES gasification technology, combined with ZEP engineering and project management. Today, China’s ammonia production for fertilizers relies heavily upon a large number of projects utilizing outdated coal-conversion technologies that require expensive coals such as anthracite, and a process that results in significant environmental damage. The parties are developing a turnkey solution that includes integrated design, equipment, technology, and installation packages for refueling these projects to low cost, lower quality coals through utilizing SES’ gasification technology, which is much more environmentally benign, and are simultaneously identifying and developing the initial customer opportunities for the cooperation. ZEP Vice Chairman Yu Yiyao said China is the world’s largest producer of ammonia, with annual production of approximately 60 million mt. He said there are 472 nitrogenous fertilizer companies in China operating approximately 3,500 inefficient atmospheric fixed-bed intermittent gasifiers that require some of the most expensive coal available, have significant limitations in terms of resources and energy, have a large environmental impact, and have production costs that are especially high. "We have studied the application of SES’ technology in this industry and estimate that one SES gasification system has the capability to retrofit five of the old-generation systems, offering a large available market of approximately 700 units for our packaged solution,” he said.