VESTA Once-through Methanation New Technology with Wide H2/CO Flexibility Successfully Passes Pilot Testing

Shanghai, July 5, 2016 – Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, recently announced that the pilot plant of VESTA Once-through Methanation New Technology with Wide H2/CO Flexibility – jointly developed by Clariant, Wison Engineering (Wison) and Amec Foster Wheeler (“AmecFW”) – has been successfully tested, signifying that the technology is ready for commercial application, which will provide an economical solution for the SNG process.

Clariant provided the proprietary catalyst, as Wison Engineering has been responsible for the engineering design, construction and operational management of the pilot plant, while AmecFW offered the authorized technology. The pilot plant was built in June 2014 and completed all pilot tests by end of April 2016. Experimental results show that the processing of the technology is simple and production is easy to control. Compared with existing technologies, the VESTA technology is safer and more reliable, with a better guaranteed product quality. The catalyst is also more active with higher conversion rate and wider operating temperature range (230-700°C). Clariant’s methantion catalyst was also successfully used in an industrial application in 2015.

The VESTA Once-through Methanation New Technology with Wide H2/CO Flexibility is an innovative methanation technology to produce synthetic natural gas (SNG) from synthesis gas obtained from gasification of either coal or petroleum coke. The VESTA technology is a Once-through operation with no need of expensive compressors. The SNG production is easy to operate as it does not require strict control of the hydrogen / carbon ratio and therefore, the product quality is more stable and reliable. The CO2 and H2O content of methane gas product can be controlled to a minimal level so it can be operated without triethylene glycol (TEG) dehydration systems, which in turn lowers system installation investment where one-off investment can be reduced by 20% or more. The technology has a significant energy-saving impact, according to the test results: the new technology can add value over RMB200 million per year based on a sample model of 4 billion standard cubic meter SNG output per year.

Andy Hemingway, the Vice President of Technology for Amec Foster Wheeler said, “Substitute natural gas is an effective synthesis pathway for clean fuel energy which can help alleviate the shortage of China’s natural gas output. We are extremely pleased to see that the VESTA Once-through Methanation New Technology with Wide H2/CO Flexibility has been proven at a commercial scale with the support of our partners Wison Engineering and Clariant. We look forward to supporting the Chinese market with this innovative technology.”

“The success in pilot testing is a result of our close collaboration with Wison Engineering and AmecFW in the past three years on the back of our business strengths. The pilot testing verifies the excellent performance of Clariant catalyst and also allows us to further optimize the new SNG technology. We believe this new technology can bring a whole new solution to the future development of SNG and optimization of energy structure in China,” said Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Clariant Business Unit Catalysts.

Chen Huimei, Senior Vice President of Wison Engineering, said, “We are very pleased with the initial achievement of our first cooperation with AmecFW and Clariant. By leveraging Foster Wheeler’s global expertise and technological strength as well as Clariant’s strong innovation in catalyst technology, Wison Engineering has brought into full play its competitiveness in technology industrialization and further enhanced its capabilities in coal chemicals industry.”

“In the long run, SNG will play a strategic role in facilitating the clean coal utilization in China. The new technology’s commercialization will significantly reduce the cost of SNG production and accelerate its development.” Chen Huimei added.

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