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Related Companies United Technologies Corp.

Related Documents Press Release (PR) United Technologies Corp. 11/5/2009, filed on 11/5/2009

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne on Nov. 5 marked the commissioning of a compact gasification pilot plant in Illinois designed to help lower energy costs, provide a clean alternative fuel source and strengthen U.S. energy security.

The pilot plant is the first step toward global commercialization of the innovative technology, said the company, a unit of United Technologies Corp.

The commissioning was held at the Gas Technology Institute in Des Plaines, Ill., where the pilot plant for the compact gasifier is located. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne has teamed with Exxon Mobil Research and Engineering, Zero Emission Energy Plants Ltd., the Alberta Energy Research Institute and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to develop and commercialize compact gasification, a higher-efficiency and lower-cost alternative to current gasification systems.

"The Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne gasifier provides a 90 percent decrease in size compared to competing systems, thereby enabling higher efficiency, and as much as a 25 percent reduction in cost with enhanced reliability," Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne President Jim Maser said. "We look forward to leveraging Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's 50 years of engineering experience and working together with our teams in this initiative to reduce cost and improve performance of gasification plants worldwide."

Gasification involves material such as coal or biomass, with the resulting syngas burned to produce electricity or further processed to manufacture chemicals, fertilizers, liquid transportation fuels, synthetic natural gas or hydrogen.

The capital cost to build a commercial-scale compact gasification plant using Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's technology is estimated to be 20% less than conventional gasification plants. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's compact gasifier also is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 10% compared to standard gasification technologies, the company said. Exxon Mobil is sharing development costs and collaborating with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to develop, demonstrate and license the technology.