CONOCO to build demonstration plant at Ponca City

<br>PONCA CITY, Okla. (AP) _ Conoco Inc. said Monday it will build a $75 million dollar demonstration plant at Ponca City. <br><br>Demonstration plants are typically small-scale plants that are used to

Tuesday, May 15th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PONCA CITY, Okla. (AP) _ Conoco Inc. said Monday it will build a $75 million dollar demonstration plant at Ponca City.

Demonstration plants are typically small-scale plants that are used to show whether a new process can be made profitable.

The Ponca City plant is part of an initiative to commercialize Conoco's technology for converting natural gas into liquid fuels such as diesel, jet fuel and other products. The plant is to create 400 barrels a day of liquid fuel from natural gas.

Conoco said its demonstration plant will enable the company to gather engineering data needed to design a much larger commercial plant.

The demonstration plant is scheduled for completion in September 2002 and the company expects to begin construction of its first commercial plant by 2004. Conoco said there are no such commercial plants in operation anywhere in the world.