GTL '16: Execs discuss small-scale GTL future, new technology applications

By Adrienne Blume, Editor of Gas Processing and Executive Editor of Hydrocarbon Processing

Gulf Publishing Company's fourth annual GTL Technology Forum took place from August 2–3 in Houston, Texas. The Forum's discussions revolved around technology developments and market insights for the GTL sector and related gas industry spaces, such as methanol, LNG and MTG.

The event was supported by exhibitors Air Liquide, Matheson and TDS, as well as the Forum's advisory board.

In her opening address on Tuesday, the author noted dramatic changes in the oil and gas market since the GTL Tech Forum's initial launch in 2013. However, new challenges and opportunities have cropped up in the GTL space during that time.

Exciting developments are happening that will open up new technology pathways for liquid fuels production. These technologies will also help reduce flaring and greenhouse gas emissions, and lower costs for new GTL projects, as discussed by the speakers at this year's event.

 

Day 1: FT and non-FT GTL, and project updates. In his kickoff presentation, Raj Suri, President of EmberClear, gave an overview of the projected global energy demand growth in 2035 for fossil fuels (60%) and renewables (25%). Although the share of oil and coal in the energy mix is declining, they will still make up 80% of demand in 2035, while natural gas will encompass roughly 26% of demand.

However, energy efficiency is rising significantly due to technology improvements, so less energy per capita is being used to increase GDP, Suri said. Substantial population growth will be seen in Africa, China and India; the latter two countries will contribute significantly to global GDP growth through productivity improvements, although Africa is not expected to contribute much GDP growth despite its projected large population expansion.

More people means more energy will be needed. By 2035, global oil and liquids demand is anticipated to rise by 20 MMbpd. New supply will come from the Middle East, Brazil, the US and a handful of other countries. New demand will be seen in the Middle East, as well as India, China and other Asian countries.

Suri also discussed the viability of methanol projects. Annual worldwide methanol demand is pegged at approximately 62 metric MMt, he said. Top producers—of which Methanex is the world leader, with 14% of market share and sales in all major regions—account for half of global sales, while the next largest group of competitors are not expected to materially expand their methanol investments in the near term.

New plants could be built in the US (a country which, Suri noted, offers "good financing options"), Russia or the Middle East. The US' abundance of cheap natural gas has spurred the construction of several projects in US. The major challenge in bringing methanol projects to the market, Suri said, is how to finance them.

Demand will come from countries like China, which is moving toward alternative energies (mainly nuclear and renewables) due to pollution concerns and the desire to reduce coal-fired power generation. China is importing increasing volumes of methanol to fuel new, more efficient, cleaner power plants. Methanol is also blended in petroleum fuels in countries outside of the US, which uses mainly ethanol for fuel blending.

Suri closed his talk by noting that stagnant market conditions are forcing gas producers to take vertical integration risks. It remains to be seen if these vertical moves can compensate for the lack of futures (forward sales) in the chemicals and liquids sector. Suri noted an increase in partnerships between gas producers and power companies. Gas producers are also more willing to take risks in contract extensions, which has not been seen before.

The future of FT. Technology Manager at John Matthey Davy Technologies (JMDT), Andrew Coe, spoke about fixed-bed Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reactor technology. JMDT and BP have been collaborating for years on a fixed-bed tubular reactor that provides the advantages of no catalyst movement, a simple design, proven technology, modularity, ease of upgrade and an attractive product slate.

The partnership, he noted, is keen to "…maintain non-proprietary reactor design so that we can continue to provide a healthy supply of these reactors."

JMDT and BP have been working on two parallel developments: a catalyst design and a reactor design. The Gen2 catalyst development is a "drop-in" catalyst for conventional fixed-bed tubular reactors. The reactor uses a catalyst carrier, or CAN insert, that includes multiple CANs in tubes.

The JV has achieved over 8,000 hr of operation at its pilot plant, at commercial flowsheet conditions. "This gives us the confidence that it's ready for commercial deployment," Coe said.

Opportunities for technology applications include small-scale plants near metropolitan areas, natural gas plants at small and large scales, compact reformers at small scale, flare abatement, offshore applications, municipal solid waste and others.

Microchannel reactors. COO of Velocys, Paul F. Schubert, spoke about enabling larger-capacity microchannel reactors. The ENVIA Energy plant in Oklahoma City, in which Velocys is a partner, has 175-bpd commercial reactors with four cores. These reactor designs can be easily scaled for eight cores (350 bpd), 16 cores (700 bpd) or more. Velocys has secured third-party validation for its 16-core reactor design used in a commercial plant.

Schubert noted that Velocys will be supporting EPC contractor Ventech Engineers International LLC in leading commissioning and startup of the ENVIA plant, which will be the first small-scale GTL plant operating in North America. Other partners include Waste Management Inc. and NRG Energy Inc.

Biomass conversion. Technology Team Manager for Olefins and Alternative Fuels for Axens Process Licensing, Sebastien Boucher, spoke about biomass conversion to fuel through FT synthesis. Axens, along with its BTL Alliance partners IFP energies nouvelles, thyssenkrupp, CEA, Avril and Total, are developing two 2 tph–3-tph demo units at Dunkirk and Venette in France for lignocellusloic biomass treatment and gasification.

At the sites, the partners will run a dozen different types of biomass over the next three years of testing. They will also acquire the data needed for safe scale-up of the demo plants in the future. By 2020, a commercial unit could go up if the results are positive and the market is right, Boucher said.

Non-FT GTL. After the lunch break, speakers discussed the future of non-FT GTL technology. Siva Ariyapadi, Director of Technology Licensing for the Americas at Air Liquids Global E&C Solutions US, discussed the monetization of gas to methanol and gasoline.

Air Liquide, which sub-licenses the MTG technology from ExxonMobil, sees feedstock opportunities for methanol and the application of Air Liquide's G2G technology in the US. The company is studying two feedstock-advantaged regions in the US for the production of gasoline to supply fuel-deficient areas.

Also, Joseph C. Gentry, Vice President of Engineering and Technology at GTC Technology US, gave a commercialization update on the conversion of natural gas to aromatics via GTC Technology's GT-G2A (gas to aromatics) technology. The GT-G2A process' main products are BTX and C9 aromatics.

Smaller-scale GTL. CCO of Primus Green Energy, George Boyajian, spoke about Primus Green Energy's STG+ technology for the production of methanol, high-octane gasoline and diluent.

A very small-scale technology requires smaller investment, which means a larger pool of investors, Boyajian said. It also means that these projects create revenue quickly, with construction timelines of 12–18 months, and fast permitting. The STG+ plants are modular and incorporate standard designs.

A demo project is operating in Hillsboro, New Jersey. The integrated plant produces high-octane gasoline with an average of 92 RON (with the ability to produce 100 RON) from feedstocks including natural gas, NGL and syngas.

Boyajian said a 160-metric-tpd plant in the Marcellus region will commence operations in 4Q 2017 or 1Q 2018 at an existing chemical plant along the Ohio River. Tauber Oil will offtake the products from the plant. Additionally, a 160-metric-tpd methanol plant sited in the Montney-Duvernay area in northwest-central Alberta is under development.

You can read more about these developments from Primus Green Energy in the Viewpoint article in the July/August issue of Gas Processing.

Dmitry Popov, the Vice President of Commercial for INFRA Technology, discussed INFRA's modularized, compact, transportable MARK100 GTL production units. These units can reduce gas flaring and monetize offshore, remote and shale gas reserves, Popov said. They can be easily assembled onsite and moved to different locations.

The GTL product can be blended with mineral oil and transported using the existing transportation infrastructure. Since only trace hydrocarbons are present in the water, it can be cycled back into the process. Popov emphasized the plants' economic feasibility, even at current oil prices.

Rounding out the day one discussions, Robert F. Walsh, Senior Vice President of Energy and President of the Industrial Products Division for Intrexon Corp., spoke about his company's proprietary GTL bioconversion platform. The technology uses bacteria as a biocatalyst. Intrexon is targeting the rapid commercialization of its methanotroph platform.

The fifth annual GTL Technology Forum will take place in summer 2017 in Houston. For more coverage of the 2016 GTL Tech Forum, please click here.

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