Southwest Louisiana is becoming a hub for GTL facilities, the governor’s office noted. In December, Sasol announced a $16 billion to $21 billion GTL and ethane cracker complex that will be the largest manufacturing investment in Louisiana history. In January, G2X Energy announced a $1.3-billion GTL facility at the Port of Lake Charles that will yield chiefly gasoline.

The Juniper GTL project, with a design production of 1,100 barrels per day of clean chemicals and transportation fuels, will be a forerunner of smaller commercial GTL plants. Venture parter SGC Energia SA has been working with Oxford Catalysts’ US subsidiary Velocys on microchannel FT reactors. (Earlier post.)

SGC Energia and Houston-based Great Northern Project Development LP (GNPD) conceived the Juniper GTL project. In 2012, SGC Energia commissioned, started up, and operated a pilot-scale FT process for the demonstration step of its XTLH Fischer-Tropsch integrated process solution in Texas. This plant was used to confirm design plans for future larger scale projects as well as to gather additional data. This moveable skid is being relocated to provide future operator training for the commercial unit to be built in Louisiana.

Louisiana Economic Development (LED) began discussing the GTL project with SGC Energia in January. To secure the project, the state offered a competitive incentives package.

Construction of Juniper GTL’s facility and management hiring, with the support of LED FastStart, is beginning now. Additional hiring will take place as the project nears completion in early 2015.

SGC Energia SA is Portuguese company with its North American headquarters in Houston. The company is in the business of owning and operating mid-scale energy facilities (XTLH refineries) that convert a wide range of low-cost, carbon-rich feedstock into fuels.

GNPD LP is the development arm of Quintana Minerals Corporation, a family-owned US group based in Houston with more than 75 years of experience through its different affiliated companies as an operating company in the energy business.

Resources

• Tuesday, April 30, 2013: 8:35 AM Bonham B (Grand Hyatt San Antonio) Juan Inga and Lindsay Hernandez (2013) Successful Operation of a 1 BPD Fischer-Tropsch Pilot Plant (Paper Nº 293251, 2013 AIChE Spring Meeting)