Combine gas and coal feedstocks to displace high-cost oil

A. Abazajian, WorleyParsons, Houston, Texas; V. Vaysman, WorleyParsons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and P. B. Ivanov, RiCoal Ltd., Moscow, Russia Over the last decade, the price of crude oil has increased substantially. Oil is now much more expensive on an energy-equivalent basis than other hydrocarbon feedstocks—e.g., natural gas and coal. Consequently, one of the phenomena taking place around the world is the substitution of crude oil-derived products with those derived from natural gas or coal. However, the substitution of crude oil with natural gas and coal runs into problems of basic mass balance, molecular size and species, and activation energy, which raises the capital intensity o