Syntroleum Corporation commemorated the successful production of more than 140,000 gallons of ultra-clean synthetic fuels at its gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuels plant at Port of Catoosa, Oklahoma. The plant also manufactured 60,000 gallons of additional products, such as syncrude.

The Catoosa plant, designed and constructed under DOE’s Ultra-Clean Fuels program, is a test plant that produces 70 barrels of synthetic product per day—a comparative drop in the bucket, compared to other GTL plants and technologies. But in some ways, that’s the point.

Unlike other GTL technologies, the Syntroleum process uses air, rather than pure oxygen. This eliminates the need for an oxygen plant attached to the GTL facility, enabling a more compact facility. Syntroleum has developed a GTL barge that can economically take the processing capability to stranded gas fields. (Schematic of the process at right. The shaded area marks where oxygen based equipment would be in other processes.)

Syntroleum’s air-blown process can economically scale down to 10,000 bpd of capacity vs. 35,000 to 50,000 bpd for more expensive oxygen-based processes. The capability cost-effectively to package GTL processing in smaller and even mobile platforms is important to the recovery of an enormous amount of stranded gas—much of which currently is flared off.

In 2004, more than 10 billion cubic feet per day of gas was flared and vented worldwide, representing 25% of daily European gas consumption or 17% of daily US gas consumption. That same 10 billion cubic feet of gas could be converted into 1 million barrels of clean-burning synthetic fuel.

Most world-class GTL technology is in large plants associated with gas fields of 5–500 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf). The Syntroleum technology can effectively address the larger number of fields with stranded gas between 0.5–5 Tcf.

Founded in 1984, Syntroleum has really just turned the corner from being an energy technology development company to a company that has commercial prospects. Accordingly, Syntroleum is looking to become the leading developer of small- to medium-sized GTL projects, and a leading independent clean fuels producer.

Resources:

• Syntroleum Diesel