"This unique collaboration will help expand our business to make cleangasification technology more available, affordable, reliable and efficient,"said Jim Maser, president, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. "While EMRE brings itsextensive expertise in energy process development and engineering, we bringdecades of experience in high-temperature reactions and hardware development."

Gasification is a process that converts carbon-containing material such ascoal or biomass into synthesis gas (syngas). Syngas can be burned to produceelectricity or further processed to manufacture chemicals, fertilizers, liquidfuels, substitute natural gas or hydrogen.

The Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne gasifier is about one-tenth the size ofcompeting systems, and offers the potential to be more efficient, reliable andaffordable. It is also expected to reduce the cost of carbon dioxide captureand sequestration. ExxonMobil is sharing development cost and collaboratingwith Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to develop, demonstrate and license thetechnology.

"The technology developed through this teaming arrangement is expected tosignificantly reduce capital and operating costs of gasification plants andenhance commercial development of more compact gasification systems," said JimHartung, Energy Systems director, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne initiated development of this technology undera Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy, based on more than50 years of rocket engine experience and early proof of concept testsperformed in the late 1970s.

Under the new joint development agreement, EMRE and Pratt & WhitneyRocketdyne will work together to complete technology development anddemonstration. This includes pilot plant activities at the Gas TechnologyInstitute in Des Plaines, Ill., and feed system and dry solids pump tests atthe Energy and Environmental Research Center in Grand Forks, N.D. Pratt &Whitney Rocketdyne and EMRE will also collaborate on licensing the technologyto third parties.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc., a part of Pratt & Whitney, is apreferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovativesystem solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercialapplications, including the main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas andDelta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonicengines.

Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and serviceof aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines.United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified companyproviding high technology products and services to the global aerospace andbuilding industries.

Bryan Kidder Carri Karuhn Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne 818-586-2213 818-586-4963 bryan.kidder@pwr.utc.com carri.karuhn@pwr.utc.comSOURCE Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne