DME Clean Energy Pty. Ltd. (DMECE) intends to develop a new opportunity for the struggling Australian brown coal industry.  The company has asked Unitel to design an enhanced process for making DME from brown coal mined in the State of Victoria.  With a prevailing price of $7 per ton for brown coal, the underlying economics of this business are exceptionally attractive. 

The customer intends to develop an alternative and sustainable option to meet the nitrogen fertilizer requirements of the US agricultural industry.  Currently our country consumes appr. 20 million tons of ammonia per year, and more than 50% of this product is imported from Trinidad, Russia and Canada. 

In response to environmental pressures, most countries in the world continue to decrease the allowed sulfur levels in diesel used for transportation applications.  Currently (2010) all highway diesel fuel refined in or imported into the United States must have a sulfur content of 15 parts per million (ppm) or lower.  Some countries in Europe are actively promoting the use of 10 ppm or even 5 ppm standards.

In May of 2010, Unitel delivered the first of its latest computer-controlled catalyst testing and evaluation systems – CTS Version 8, the Octave – to the University of Louisville’s Conn Center for Renewable Research and Environmental Stewardship (CCRRES).  According to Dr. Paul Ratnasamy, Professor at CCRRES, initial experiments with the Octave will focus on catalytic conversion of waste oils into fuels. Following that, Paul intends to test custom catalysts for making fuel alcohols from synthesis gas.