ThyssenKrupp Uhde and SGC Energia (SGCE) have entered into a Master License and Supply Agreement for the application of ThyssenKrupp Uhde’s proprietary PRENFLO® PDQ coal gasification technology. Under this agreement, SGCE will license ThyssenKrupp Uhde’s PRENFLO® PDQ process for multiple Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) projects that will convert coal into high-quality liquid fuels using SGCE’s proprie-tary XTLHTM solution.

Furthermore, both companies have signed a specific License and Supply Agreement for the CTL project in Mozambique currently in the design phase. Upon movement into the implementation phase, ThyssenKrupp Uhde’s PRENFLO® PDQ technology will be utilized to process the domestic coal from a coal mine in Moatize, Mozambique.

By means of a Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, clean fuels will be produced for the utilisation domestically as well as for export to neighbouring countries. The plant will have a nominal design capacity of 9,500 barrels per day and is planned to begin operation in 2016.

ThyssenKrupp Uhde is among the world leaders in coal gasification and has 70 years of experience in coal gasification. Due to the current energy market situation, ThyssenKrupp Uhde sees a significant increase in the demand for coal-based, alternative energy projects; the Mozambique plant is one that will demonstrate the suitability of high-ash coal from these domestic mines as a source for generation of highly valuable products.

SGCE is a Portuguese incorporated company that acts as the investment arm of João Pereira Coutinho, a Portuguese entrepreneur, in the renewable energy sector, who, through his holdings, is involved in the production of conventional and advanced clean biofuels, as well as the supply of complex integrated solutions for the production of alternative energy (“XTLHTM Technology”) from low value “carbon containing feedstock”.

Coal gasification plants provide higher efficiency, and particularly lower emissions than conventional coal conversion plants, and allow the utilisation of low-grade feedstocks, such as coal, petcoke or biomass, for a variety of products. ThyssenKrupp Uhde’s PRENFLO® process is based on its proprietary Koppers-Totzek coal gasification process which has been proven for over a decade in the world’s largest single-train IGCC power plant in Puertollano, Spain.

Fischer-Tropsch technology has been invented in in 1925 in Germany, and has successfully been applied in large-scale commercial operations around the world, mainly in Germany and South Africa.