Overview

Hunton Energy (HE) is relocating the Lockwood Project to Freeport Texas adjacent to the Dow Chemical Oyster Creek Facility. The Hunton Energy Facility will produce Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) which will be purchased by Dow Chemical, (NYSE, DOW).

Using innovative gasification systems, the plant will transform the petroleum by-product, pet coke, into SNG, CO2, power and steam.

The gasification process breaks down the fuel into elemental forms. Clean, low cost energy enters pipelines as gas and the power grid as electricity, while all the CO2 is compressed and safely piped into gas and oil fields for enhanced production.

The project will utilize one of two proprietary gasification processes, which have been in successful operation for over ten years, are approved by the Department of Energy (DOE) and eligible for DOE funding.

This concept is beyond what any energy provider is currently offering. The Freeport Project will be the first commercial energy facility to utilize an industrial by-product to generate clean energy.

Benefits

The Freeport Facility will also be a significant job creator for the Brazoria community and is expected to create over 1,200 new construction jobs while under development and 150 permanent jobs for Texas. “This project is crafted with Texas in mind and realizes a key tenet of the Texas Energy Center, to develop new technology applications that meet the energy challenges of tomorrow and continue the long tradition of Texas leading the way in energy innovation,” says R.C. Brown, chairman of the Texas Energy Center located in Sugar Land, Texas.

The HE Freeport Plant will validate gasification as a clean, economic competitive process. This plant will fill a critical need, moving the U.S. toward energy independence. This process works with coal, an abundant U.S. resource, and other low value feed stocks. This facility will demonstrate that we can use our own resources in a responsible and clean manner. This technology will also help to insulate the U.S. from geopolitical gyrations that can cause extreme fluctuation in energy prices.

Site

The Freeport Project is located in Brazoria County on 250 acres adjacent to the Dow Chemical Oyster Creek Plant. The site is ideal for a plant of this type, having access to deep water, electrical transmission and natural gas infrastructure.

Plant Design

Hunton Energy is committed to providing cost effective, environmentally responsible energy. Therefore, Hunton proposes to use proven, state of the art gasification technology to convert petroleum coke into methane also known as synthetic natural gas (SNG). The high sulfur coke which would have been burned to generate power will be transformed into clean burning natural gas. The SNG can be used in existing chemical or power plants without any modifications.

URS and the Hunton Energy engineering group completed the process design; Mustang Engineering has been retained to complete the construction drawings.

CO2 that is generated in the process of making the SNG will be captured and used to extract crude oil from older, depleted wells. This process known as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) increased production from U.S. oil wells, reducing our dependence on foreign oil. The CO2, a greenhouse gas, is captured underground (sequestered) so that it does not contribute to global warming.

Emissions Permitting

Freeport’s emissions profile will set a new standard for regulatory requirements. The Texas Commission of Environmental Quality air permit was issued on January 16, 2009.