Gas-to-Liquids Processes for Chemicals and Energy Production

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Report Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

STUDY GOALs AND OBJECTIVES

Worldwide, natural gas reserves far exceed oil reserves. Indeed, at current consumption rates, the earth has about a 45-year supply of oil, compared with a nearly 1,000-year supply of natural gas. In many locales, though, natural gas is “stranded” and thus suppliers have limited markets. A key objective of gas suppliers is the development of processing and conversion technologies, such as gas to liquids, that would enable entry to the multitrillion-dollar market for chemicals and liquid fuels.

The gas-to-liquids (GTL) business is involved in the chemical conversion of stranded natural gas feedstocks to liquid products such as transportation fuels and chemicals. Insofar as beneficial processing of the world’s huge resource base of stranded natural gas is concerned, GTL processing is a relatively recent research and development (R&D) focus of the petrochemical industry. Development of commercial-scale GTL plants, utilizing stranded natural gas, is a relatively recent development, too. Hence, the need for this BCC Research report.