Shaw Awarded Contract for Development of Warm Syngas Cleaning Technology
The Shaw Group Inc. today announced it has been awarded a contract by RTI International to support the development of the company's new technology for synthesis gas (syngas) cleaning at elevated temperatures.
The contract includes the pre-front-end-engineering-design phase, during which Shaw will conduct a study for a 50-MW commercial demonstration unit to be built at Tampa Electric Company's 250-MW integrated gasification combined cycle power plant in Florida.
"Shaw has been involved with the development and commercialization of more than 40 technologies during the past four decades," said J.M. Bernhard Jr., Shaw's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "That experience, coupled with our strength in process technology licensing, will help us progress RTI's new technology, which could benefit a range of industries where clean syngas is used as a feedstock."
Traditional methods require warm syngas to be cooled before the gas cleanup process begins. The new technology, which eliminates the need for syngas cooling and expensive heat recovery systems, is expected to significantly reduce the capital and operating costs of an integrated gasification combined cycle power plant.
RTI and Eastman Chemical successfully conducted pilot tests of this technology at a chemical facility in Kingsport, Tenn. Today the commercialization continues as Shaw's work is being funded through RTI's agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory to design and build a demonstration unit.
"This 50-MW scale-up will mitigate the remaining technical risks before full commercial deployment," said David Myers, vice president of the Engineering and Technology Unit at RTI. "Beyond application in the power industry, the technology also holds tremendous potential to reduce the cost of producing hydrogen, chemicals such as methanol and ammonia, and fuels through gasification of coal or other low value carbonaceous feedstocks, while enabling carbon capture through conventional or advanced CO2 removal technologies."
The undisclosed value of the contract was included in Shaw's Energy & Chemicals Group's backlog of unfilled orders in the third quarter of fiscal year 2010.
The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE:SHAW) is a leading global provider of engineering, construction, technology, fabrication, remediation and support services for clients in the energy, chemicals, environmental, infrastructure and emergency response industries. A Fortune 500 company with fiscal year 2009 annual revenues of $7.3 billion, Shaw has approximately 28,000 employees around the world.
RTI International is one of the world's leading research institutes, dedicated to improving the human condition by turning knowledge into practice. Staff of more than 2,800 provides research and technical expertise to governments and businesses in more than 40 countries in the areas of health and pharmaceuticals, education and training, surveys and statistics, advanced technology, international development, economic and social policy, energy and the environment, and laboratory and chemistry services.
Published 06/07/2010
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