Lignite Upgrading

IER's Cat-HTR Technology

With the objective of adding value to its near-surface lignite deposits, IER is developing its own proprietary beneficiation technology: the Cat-HTR Process. This process upgrades lignite, a low-rank coal, into a high-grade, micronised coal and a synthetic crude oil ('syncrude').

IER's Cat-HTR technology:

• Increases the energy content of lignite, by creating a high-grade, micronised coal,
• Creates a synthetic crude, which can be upgraded into various oil products, and
• Aims to transform a coal resource into an oil field.

Other Beneficiation Technologies

To bring forward cash flow, and to reduce technology development risk, IER is looking to utilise a proven lignite beneficiation technology. The testing of this technology will also demonstrate the potential pathways to market for upgraded lignite products.

Partnership with TRUenergy

In 2010, IER signed a Hosting Agreement with TRUenergy, a major Australian energy company with a multi-billion dollar portfolio of generation and retail assets. The agreement relates to the assembly of a Commercial Demonstration Plant ('CDP') of IER's Cat-HTR Process at TRUenergy's Yallourn brown coal-fired power station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.