Primus Green Energy has been awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its STG+ liquid fuel synthesis technology. The company says its STG+ produces high quality, cost-effective, drop-in liquid transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel directly from syngas derived from natural gas and other carbon-rich feedstocks in a single-loop process.

STG+ represents a cost breakthrough for the GTL industry, says the company, as it demonstrates compelling economics at scales of less than 6,000 barrels per day. The patented process is far simpler and more efficient than existing GTL technologies as it transforms syngas to liquid fuels with only one condensation step and also recycles untransformed gases. These efficiencies result in a high-yield process – STG+ can convert one MMBtu of natural gas into more than five gallons of 90+-octane, drop-in gasoline.

“STG+ is a new, proprietary thermochemical GTL process that fundamentally transforms the efficiency and economics of liquid fuel synthesis technologies,” said Robert Johnsen, CEO of Primus Green Energy. “The allowance of this patent application validates the novelty of the technology we have developed and proven at scale in our research facilities and commercial demonstration plant here in Hillsborough. Further, it greatly strengthens our intellectual property portfolio, an important step as we look toward construction of our first commercial GTL plant.”

In October 2013, Primus successfully commissioned its 100,000 gallon-per-year natural gas-to-gasoline demonstration plant. A recently concluded independent engineers report found that both catalyst performance and STG+ system economics exceeded expectations during demonstration plant operation. The company is now working toward construction of its first commercial plant, which is expected to produce 27.8 million gallons per year of drop-in gasoline from natural gas. The company expects to break ground on the plant in 2014.