Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions, the engineering and construction arm of the French industrial gases group, has signed a global technology licensing agreement with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering. Under the terms, Air Liquide will market and license its proprietary Lurgi MegaMethanol technology in combination with ExxonMobil’s methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) technology to transform natural gas into ultra-low sulfur gasoline.

The technology that transforms natural gas and other feedstocks, into motor gasoline low in benzene content and containing virtually no sulfur will be marketed under the trademark G2G.

With the integration of the processes, the companies said project interfaces, off sites and logistics complexities can be minimized as well as overall investment for synthetic fuel production.

G2G will be licensed as an integrated solution and deployed globally through Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions’ network.

As a leading technology licensor for world-scale methanol units, Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions said it has awarded nearly 20 licenses for the Lurgi MegaMethanol technology since the year 2000, with acceleration seen in the last 18 months, notably in the US, where cheap natural gas prices is pushing many new plants forward.

The French gases group acquired the technology in 2007 with the takeover of German engineering firm Lurgi for €550m from GEA Group in a bid to expand its technology base

Cristiano Tortelli, vice president and chairman of Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions, noted that “methanol has become a promising energy carrier enabling the market to fully utilize the potential of lower-cost energy sources into low-sulfur transportation fuels.”