Gas to Liquids Technology and Market Potential

April 15, 2009 - PRLog -- Gas to Liquids (GTL) provides ultra-clean fuel that can dramatically improve air quality in the major metropolitan areas of the world. GTL technology uses syngas production and the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process to convert natural gas into liquid synthetic fuels. Unlike products refined from crude oil, GTL fuels are crystal clear and free from sulfur and aromatic pollutants - greatly exceeding new and proposed Japanese, European Union and U.S. environmental regulations. GTL fuels can be used to run diesel engines, jet and natural gas turbines and also fuel cells. We believe that we can create value for our shareholders by applying this technology to the abundant natural gas available throughout the world and primarily in the Middle East. Engineering advances and exciting new catalyst formulations have dramatically reduced the capital costs of producing super clean fuels from natural gas.

The benefits of GTL technology are becoming very clear, as described in the Gas to Liquids Technology & Market Potential report by Energy Business Reports. GTL has the potential to convert the trillions of cubic feet of stranded natural gas worldwide into billions of barrels of economic value. Countries that control the gas will realize great value from the investment, jobs and revenue that will result from the development of these resources. Furthermore, the products and fuels from GTL plants can be transported and sold through conventional infrastructure, such as tankers, pipelines, storage facilities and existing retail distribution systems. The process yields the highest quality synthetic hydrocarbons that can be used directly as a fuel in a normal diesel engine, or blended with lower quality crude oil-derived diesel fuel to help meet more stringent engine exhaust standards and increased performance requirements.

While the GTL process can be designed to refine several types of products, our focus will be on diesel as a transportation fuel and naphtha as a chemical feedstock. Ultra-clean diesel has two natural markets: it can be blended with conventional diesel to meet lower sulfur specifications and be used as a cost effective alternative to more costly refining processes. It can also be sold as a specialty product to major cities for use in buses, trucks, taxis etc to alleviate air pollution problems. Many of the world's cities are in need of such an alternative fuel application that functions better than conventional fuels, including compressed natural gas. The ultra-clean naphtha product is ideally suited to ethylene cracking for the manufacture of petrochemicals because of its high paraffin content. Both the diesel and naphtha markets are significant today in absolute terms and expanding at strong rates of growth. The clean diesel product is likely to have the highest demand in the Far East and Europe while the high value naphtha will probably be consumed in the Middle East.

GTL not only adds value, but also is capable of producing products that could be sold or blended into refinery stock as superior products with fewer pollutants, for which there is growing demand. Reflecting its origins as a gas, gas to liquids processes produce diesel fuel with an energy density comparable to conventional diesel, but with a higher cetane number, permitting a superior performance engine design.

This report on Gas to Liquids looks at this lucrative and fast rising industry from the basics to the specific technologies involved in the GTL process. A summary of the major players, major technologies involved, economic analysis of the GTL process, and much more, is contained inside this comprehensive guide to the Gas to Liquids industry.

About the Publisher: This report, "Gas to Liquids Technology and Market Potential" is published by Energy Business Reports (www.EnergyBusinessReports.com), an energy industry think tank and leading source for energy industry information and research products.  View report details:  http://www.energybusinessreports.com/shop/item.asp?itemid...

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Energy Business Reports publishes cutting-edge business research and analysis reports in the global energy industry including power, oil and gas, and renewables markets.