Hunton Energy Locates Innovative Gasification Plant in Texas

Hunton Energy announces today a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) for agreements resulting in Hunton Energy building and operating a Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) plant at Dow’s Oyster Creek Facility on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Under the proposed 15-year agreement with Dow, the Hunton Energy facility is slated to produce SNG and will use steam turbines to produce additional power from its byproduct steam. Innovative processes in Hunton’s gasification system will capture 100 percent of the CO2 emissions from the facility.

“This agreement with Hunton Energy is an example of how Dow is pursuing diverse sources of energy as part of our overall strategy to mitigate rising feedstock and energy costs,” said Rich Wells, vice president of Energy for Dow Chemical. “As an added benefit, the process used to produce the steam consumed by Dow will capture CO2 emissions to be sold for enhanced oil recovery use. By switching from our site-produced steam to this new technology offered by Hunton, we will be reducing Dow’s CO2 emissions in Freeport and thereby reinforcing our publicly stated Climate Change sustainability goal to reduce the company’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20 percent by 2015.”

Hunton Energy’s concept has advanced beyond what any energy provider currently is offering. The Freeport Project will be the first commercial energy facility to use an industrial by-product to generate clean energy. “There has been a great deal of conversation regarding CO2 capture; we are committing to it from day one of operation,” says Rocky Sembritzky, Hunton Energy President.

Every byproduct from the plant is captured or used. Synthetic natural gas (SNG) will be manufactured by reacting pure oxygen with petroleum coke and biomass (wood chips, rice hulls, etc.) to produce syngas (CO, H2, H2S, and CO2) and vitrified (glassy) slag. The syngas will be subsequently converted into methane (SNG) and three byproducts: sulfur (liquid), high purity CO2 and slag.

The byproduct sulfur will be sold into the fertilizer market. The byproduct slag will be sold into the concrete/aggregate market. The byproduct CO2 will be sold into the enhanced oil recovery market to stimulate oil production.

“Our vision from the beginning has been to validate gasification as the next generation of energy production and in doing so take a major step towards U.S. energy independence,” says R.O. Hunton, Chairman of Hunton Energy.

Hunton Energy estimates a fourth quarter 2008 groundbreaking for the project.

Hunton Energy is an independent power producer, committed to clean energy generation and sustainable energy independence. Pioneering new technologies and processes, Hunton brings innovation to the forefront of power production. Hunton’s Freeport SNG will capture 100% of byproducts, including carbon dioxide (CO2).