HOUSTON, TX -- (Marketwire) -- 11/30/09 -- Energy research and consultancy Zeus Development Corporation, which has surveyed and assembled a detailed database of more than 400 gasification plants worldwide, notes a growing trend among equipment manufacturers to mass produce IGCC components.

"Manufacturers, through scale efficiencies, aim to reduce the cost of IGCC reactors, so thousands of communities with access to low-cost biomass or conventional hydrocarbons can benefit from cleaner power generation," said Chris Cothran, upstream analyst at Zeus. "Feedstocks are as broad as rice husks, palm husks, and manure."

Possibly the most ambitious manufacturer is Husk Power Systems (HPS), an Indian firm focused on electrification of rural India. The company plans to install mini biomass gasification plants, providing power for up to 2,000 villages that are off conventional power grids.

According to estimates, some 440 million people in rural India are without grid-based power. HPS plans to expand its current program throughout the Bihar state, where the company presently supplies electricity to 50 off-grid villages. Each gasification plant will utilize rice husks to generate 35-100 kWh of electricity.

In Malaysia, Quadra Projects and Avani Corporation, two other manufacturers, have signed a joint venture with funding from an unnamed Taiwanese investment group to build a plant to manufacture reactors to process palm husks. Palm-oil plants in Asia generate between 300 to 1,000 tons of palm husk remnants daily. Quadra's gasification system converts organic waste, such as palm husks, used tires, plastic and municipal waste, into products like N220 carbon black, biochar, fertilizer, and fuel oil or fuel gas for electric power.

"We expect this trend to continue as upstart manufacturers perfect designs intended to capture the wave of clean energy development following the Copenhagen Climate Conference," Bob Nimocks, president of Zeus, said. "With India and China agreeing to join the U.S. to set carbon emission targets, we anticipate this to be a growth market for the next decade."

About Zeus Development Corporation:

Founded in 1991, Zeus Development Corporation is a Houston-based information clearinghouse and consultancy with expertise in undervalued hydrocarbon conversion, including unconventional feedstock gasification. Details at www.ZeusLibrary.com.

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