Gas to Liquid Technology | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
Long considered a step child of the oil and gas industry, gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology might be coming of age according to two recent articles in “Rigzone”. Conceived in Nazi Germany, nurtured in apartheid South Africa, and reaching maturity in countries with large isolated natural gas reserves and only limited domestic markets, GTL has never been in the energy mainstream. Nevertheless, there are enough countries that fall into the last category, that there are now 4 projects on line (one each in Malaysia and Nigeria and two in Qatar) and possibly 6 more becoming operational within the next decade.
To date, GTL has required huge reserves and up front investments, which has limited applicability. Basically, gas (either synthetically derived from coal or natural) is broken down into Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide by using catalysts, and then reformulated into longer chain hydrocarbon molecules. The process has been primarily used to produce diesel.
This all changed when Malcolm Green, a chemistry professor at Oxford University found a way to make superactive catalysts which can consummate the GTL process on a much smaller scale. No longer will huge reserves, facilities and volumes of product be involved. Now, much smaller reserves, which would otherwise be uneconomic to produce, or gas that is being flared for lack of a better alternative, can be monetized.
Two companies, CompactGTL and Velocys, are already using this new technology to build GTL facilities on a much smaller scale than had previously been thought possible. Compact GTL is contructing a 3,000 barrel per day plant in Kazakhstan. Here in the U.S. Pinto Energy has selected Velocys for a similar sized project in Ohio on Lake Eerie using cheap Marcellus shale natural gas as the feedstock. This plant will produce diesel, jet fuel, some naphtha, and a high margin wax used for packaging.
It truly looks as if GTL is finally coming into its own. To read the two articles in their entirety with much more detail as to the process and economics, please go to http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/133364/GastoLiquids_No_Longer_a_Footnote_for_the_Upstream_Industry and http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/133343/Velocys_Poised_to_Capitalize_on_Age_of_Gas_New_Paradigm .
