OREANDA-NEWS. June 23, 2014. Robert Rigdon, president and CEO of Houston-based Synthesis Energy Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: SYMX), has a plan for using cheap, low-quality coal in a much "cleaner" way to power China and much of the developing world.

Synthesis uses a gasification process to turn coal into synthetic gas, or syngas, that can be further processed into making power, transportation fuels, methanol and other chemicals.

The difference with other gasification techniques, Rigdon said, is that Synthesis can do more with low-grade coal that makes up half of the world's coal supply and is rarely used. The Synthesis technology is exclusively licensed from the Illinois-based, nonprofit Gas Technology Institute.

Synthesis already has two methanol-producing gasification plants in China. Synthesis only has 14 employees in Houston, but another 120 or so in China.

"We're bringing a key that unlocks those (coal) resources that have just been in the ground," Rigdon said. "The low-quality stuff is younger and closer to the surface, so you're not cutting down mountains (as is done in mountaintop removal mining)."

While natural gas may be cheap in the U.S. now, oil and gas prices are much higher globally. Rapidly developing nations like China, India and Indonesia need more energy sources. China, with its bad pollution issues, is looking for cleaner ways to use coal. Rigdon believes he has the solution.

"China, by need, is having to lead the way in this cleaner coal business," Rigdon said. "Ironically, they're cleaning up because they need the energy."

When done with "cleaner coal," coal power plants can have fewer emissions than natural gas, he argued. However, it's very expensive and Rigdon said not many in the U.S. are willing to pay for it.