Carbon Sciences to Build a Plant for the Production of Cleaner Gasoline

SANTA BARBARA, CA--(Marketwire - Aug 14, 2012) -  Carbon Sciences Inc. (OTCBB: CABN), provider of a complete solution for transforming abundant and affordable natural gas into gasoline that burns cleaner than petroleum-based gasoline, today announced its plan to act as the project developer of a production plant in the U.S. The project will use ExxonMobil's proprietary methanol to gasoline process.

"The time is right for Carbon Sciences to move forward as a gas-to-liquids (GTL) project developer," commented Byron Elton, the company's CEO. "Natural gas is abundant, affordable, domestic and clean, and the current and future demand for gasoline in the U.S. is certain. Our first project must be absolutely 'bankable' to obtain the necessary project financing. This means selecting proven technologies, processes, engineering firms and suppliers to build a highly predictable operation for the production of gasoline." 

ExxonMobil, the world's largest publicly traded integrated petroleum and natural gas company, is licensing a commercially proven small to medium scale process, called ExxonMobil Methanol-to-Gasoline (MTG) that converts methanol into high quality clean gasoline. This process, when coupled with other commercially proven natural gas to methanol processes, can be used to cost effectively produce gasoline from natural gas. MTG gasoline is fully compatible with conventional refinery gasoline and can be either blended with conventional refinery gasoline or sold separately with minimal further processing.

"While we will be using ExxonMobil's MTG process for the last stage, the first and most expensive stage of transforming natural gas into synthesis gas (syngas) and then into methanol is every bit as important," continued Elton. "There are a number of world-class providers available to assist us with that part of the project, including Air Liquide. They offer the Lurgi MegaMethanol process, an advanced technology for converting natural gas to methanol at low cost in large quantities. The syngas production section accounts for more than 50% of the capital cost of a methanol plant. Optimization of this section will yield significant cost benefits."

Carbon Sciences is considering various options for the supply of natural gas, including selecting a natural gas resource holder to partner in the venture. Determining the actual site of the production plant will be a function of the location of the natural gas supply, as well as local interest in a project that will create a substantial number of new jobs.

Elton concluded, "We are continuing to develop our proprietary CO2-based technology to enable a second generation GTL solution that will produce even cleaner gasoline by using captured CO2 or low value, high CO2 content natural gas as part of the process. Our first GTL project will allow us an opportunity to test our technology, which can then be used in subsequent projects."

About Carbon Sciences Inc.

Carbon Sciences offers a complete solution for transforming an abundant and affordable supply of natural gas into gasoline that burns cleaner than existing petroleum-based gasoline. While large producers, such as Shell and Sasol, have built and operate world scale gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants for large natural gas fields, our solution is engineered to cost effectively produce gasoline from the thousands of available small and medium size natural gas fields. Our first generation GTL solution integrates best of breed and proven technologies, including the ExxonMobil MTG process, to produce ready to use gasoline. We are also developing a proprietary technology to enable a second-generation GTL solution that will produce even cleaner gasoline by using captured CO2 or low value, high CO2 content natural gas as part of the process. Our technology can also be used to transform natural gas into other valuable, large volume products, such as hydrogen, methanol, ammonia, solvents and plastics. To learn more about Carbon Sciences, please visit www.carbonsciences.com and follow us Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/carbonsciences.

Safe Harbor Statement

Matters discussed in this press release contain statements that look forward within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "may," "intend," "expect" and similar expressions identify such statements that look forward. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the statements that look forward contained herein, and while expected, there is no guarantee that we will attain the aforementioned anticipated developmental milestones. These statements that look forward are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with: the impact of economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company and its operations, markets, product, and distributor performance, the impact on the national and local economies resulting from terrorist actions, and U.S. actions subsequently; and other factors detailed in reports filed by the Company.