The Energy Blog

Penn State: Black liquor to DME as Alternative Fuel

Penn State press release:

Adding a little coal and processing the papermaking industry's black liquor waste into synthesis gas is a better choice than burning it for heat, improves the carbon footprint of coal-to-liquid processes, and can produce a fuel versatile enough to run a cooking stove or a truck, according to a team of Penn state engineers.

"Black liquor is routinely burned in a recovery boiler," said Andre Boehman, professor of fuel science. "But it has more energy value as a synthesis gas, which is then used to create other fuels."

Black liquor is a combination of lignin from the wood, the chemicals used in papermaking and water. Normally, after burning, mills extract the inorganic chemicals and recycle them. Synthesis gas or syngas can be made from a variety of organic wastes and is a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The final product looked at by the researchers is DME or dimethyl ether.  . . .

DME is building new markets in both heat producing fuel applications and transportation. In Japan and China, some demonstration diesel trucks and buses already run on DME. Volvo has a third-generation experimental truck that runs on DME, and other companies are also testing vehicles.

(Penn State) students looked at the efficiency of using black liquor as the feedstock for manufacturing synthesis gas and then DME, and realized that they needed the economy of scale for the process to be really efficient and economical. The capacity of paper mills for fuel production could be expanded by co-processing coal with the black liquor.

CTL Legislation Proposed

Sens. Bunning and Obama push CTL
ARLINGTON, Va., March 8 (UPI)

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., called for increased invesment in coal-to-liquid technology at the U.S. Energy Forum in Arlington, Va. "Scale of investment, uncertainty in oil prices and a complicated environmental permitting process have prevented the industry from taking root in the United States," Bunning said.

Bunning and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., co-introduced a bill in January called the Coal-To-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007. It would allow the Department of Energy to provide loan guarantees for construction, planning and permitting of CTL plants. It would also expand investment tax credits and provide the Department of Defense funding and authorization to purchase, test, and integrate these fuels into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and military fuel supplies. ...

The synfuel made from coal is low in sulfur, nitrous-oxide and partical emissions. Another benefit to the military is that the lower burning tempture reduces the heat signature of jet engines.

The most important reason to invest in CTL, Bunning said, is that its "a secure domestic fuel source and the American economy and military are too reliant on foreign fuel sources."

I'm for the loan guantees, but we do not need the subsidies provided by investment tax credits. There should also be a clause that requires the CO2 produced by the CTL process be sequestered.

Great Point's Coal Gasification Process

Cheaper Natural Gas from Coal

Peter Fairley, MIT Technology Review, Jan. 30, 2007

Great Point says that its catalytic process could put coal back in your basement.

In the second half of the 20th century, oil- and natural gas-burning furnaces drove coal out of the home-heating business across North America. But if Great Point Energy--a Boston-area startup with a low-cost process for converting coal into pipeline-grade natural gas--has its way, coal may start keeping us toasty again before long. ...

The process [takes place] in one single, efficient reactor by moving the catalysts into the gasifier itself. The key is a proprietary, recyclable catalyst developed in house with help from gasification and catalysis experts at Southern Illinois University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Tennessee, among others. The catalyst  lowers the amount of heat required to gasify coal and simultaneously transforms the gasified coal into methane. In fact, the heat released in the syngas-to-methane step is sufficient to sustain the gasification, eliminating the need to fire up the reactions with purified oxygen. "It's perfectly heat balanced," says CEO Andrew Perlman. ...

This story is an update on Great Point from my previous more detailed post of April, 26,2006, and familiarizes some of my newer readers with the technology. This technology in many ways is similar to the technology described in yesterdays post about USSEC to turn soybeans into biofuel, but from a much more credible source. 

Medicine Bow CTL Facility Agrees to Sell its Diesel to Sinclair Oil Corporation

Medicine Bow Fuel & Power LLC, a subsidiary of DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC, announced that it has entered into a long-term contract to sell 100% of the ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel from its planned coal-to-liquids (CTL) facility in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, to Sinclair Oil Corporation, which will market the fuel in the Rocky Mountain region.

The planned Medicine Bow project (see previous post), which includes a coal mine and adjacent CTL facility, will use an indirect liquefaction process to convert coal resources into refined products that meet critical energy needs while reducing the environmental concerns associated with coal combustion.

The CTL facility will utilize General Electric Company's coal gasification technology to produce synthetic gas. The synthetic gas will be cleaned so that substantially all of the sulfur and carbon dioxide (CO2) is removed. This process significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts associated with the traditional use of coal as a boiler fuel. The syngas will then be liquefied using Fischer- Tropsch technology licensed from Rentech, Inc. (Amex: RTK - News). A further refining process will produce the ultra-low-sulfur diesel product that is expected to exceed current environmental emission standards in the region.

Rentech May Benefit From Military Use of FT Fuels

Rentech, Inc. (Amex: RTK - News) has commented on the landmark test flight (previous post) by the Air Force of a B-52 utilizing Fischer-Tropsch (FT) fuels at Edwards Air Force Base. The Company believes this is an important step in the development of the coal-to-liquids (CTL) clean synthetic fuels industry for the United States and the U.S. military to ensure both energy security and the security of the country's borders. Rentech believes it is uniquely positioned to be the first domestic CTL technology provider with the ability to deliver commercial quantities of these synthetic fuels made from coal.

The U.S. Military has affirmed that it wants to implement the use of FT fuels made from coal mined in the U.S. "This is an extremely important moment," said Michael A. Aimone, the Air Force Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics in articles in the Los Angeles Times and San Jose, Mercury News. "Our goal is by 2025 to have 70 percent of our aviation fuel coming from coal-based sources."

FT Jet Fuel to be Tested in B-52

Syntroleum (Nasdaq:SYNM), a leader in Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology, announced that its ultra-clean jet fuel will be tested in a landmark B-52 flight demo on the morning of September 19, 2006 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. This event signifies the first time that FT jet fuel has been tested in a B-52 flight demo.

The FT aviation fuel will be blended with traditional JP-8 jet fuel for the flight test. Syntroleum's FT jet fuel stems from more than five years of considerable research and development efforts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), focused on producing a high performance alternative fuel for military applications. The flight test is part of the DOD's Assured Fuels Initiative, an effort to develop secure domestic sources for the military's energy needs.

"Having access to adequate supplies of jet fuel is a national security issue, and with an assured source, price fluctuations are reduced which provides stable planning and budgeting," said Bill Harrison, a fuels expert with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Rentech Comments on Recent Agreement Between DKRW and Arch Coal

Rentech, Inc. (Amex: RTK - News) has commented on its agreement between its technology licensee DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC, Inc. ("DRKW-AF"), and St. Louis-based Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI - News), one of the largest coal producers in the United States, under which Arch acquired a 25 percent stake in DKRW-AF. Arch announced that it has agreed to invest $25 million in DRKW-AF, and it has entered into a new agreement whereby Arch and DKRW-AF will explore potential reserves and project opportunities in two other coal basins. DRKW-AF is developing an initial 10,000 barrel per day Wyoming coal-to-liquids (CTL) project that will utilize Rentech's patented and proprietary synthetic fuels process.

"We believe that this agreement reflects the growing recognition by leading coal companies such as Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Coal of the unique role that our technology can play in developing a cost-effective alternative source of energy," said D. Hunt Ramsbottom, president and CEO of Rentech. "It creates the potential for the expansion of DKRW's coal-to-liquids development with a significant partner who owns large coal reserves. These projects, combined with Rentech's ongoing commercialization efforts continue to demonstrate that CTL technology and ultra clean synthetic fuels will be significant contributors to the United States' efforts regarding energy security and independence."

Rentech, Inc., utilizes its patented and proprietary Fischer-Tropsch gas-to-liquids/coal-to-liquids process for conversion of synthesis gas made from natural gas, coal and other solid or liquid carbon-bearing materials into clean burning, ultra-low-sulfur and ultra-low-aromatic synthetic fuels.

Medicine Bow Coal-to-Liquids Project Moves Ahead

The United States first private coal-to-liquids project moved one step further ahead with the announcement on August 14 by Medicine Bow Fuel & Power LLC (MBF&P), a wholly owned subsidiary of DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC (DKRW), SNC-Lavalin GDS Inc., and SNC-Lavalin Constructors Inc. that they have formed an alliance to develop, design and construct a number of coal-to-liquids fuel projects that are valued in excess of a billion dollars.

MBF&P has awarded SNC-Lavalin GDS Inc. and SNC-Lavalin Constructors a contract to execute the feasibility study and to be its engineer and EPC contractor for the future FEED and turnkey portions of the Medicine Bow, Wyoming coal-to-liquids facility project commencing in the 4th Quarter 2006.

This selection now enables us to move forward with the design and permitting of the facility said Robert Kelly, Executive Officer of DKRW and MBF&P. DKRW had previously announced that construction was to begin in 2006, with initial operations to begin in the 2008-2010 timeframe.

New Catalysts for Fischer Tropsch

Professor Alan Goldman and his Rutgers team in collaboration with researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a breakthrough technology that employs a pair of catalytic chemical reactions in the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process to more efficiently convert carbon sources, such as coal to diesel fuel and other synthetic petroleum substitutes.

"With our new catalysts, one can generate productive, clean burning fuels with Fischer-Tropsch, economically and at unsurpassed levels of efficiency" said Goldman, a professor in the department of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers. Goldman further explained that the breakthrough technology employs a pair of catalytic chemical reactions that operate in tandem. This combination of catalysts revamps the FT process for generating synthetic petroleum substitutes, invented in 1920 but never developed to the point of becoming commercially viable for coal conversion.

Coal is converted to petroleum like liquids in a coal to liquids (CTL) process which consists of two major steps: 1) gasification to produce a synthesis gas and 2) conversion of the gas to a liquid syncrude by synthesis over a catalyst in a Fischer-Tropsch process. The FT process requires a feed stream consisting largely of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The feed gas to the FT step is produced in a gasifier by heating the gas to a temperatures greater than than 700^oC.  By carefully controlling the oxygen content the hydrocarbons in the feedstock are broken down to carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The Fischer-Tropsch process converts the feed gas into liquid organic compounds, carbon dioxide and water.  The conversion takes place in the presence of a catalyst, usually iron or cobalt.  The temperature, pressure and catalyst determine whether a light or heavy syncrude is produced.

IGCC, Conventional Coal Power Plants Debated

A recent article in the New York Times discussed the plans of electric power generators to build either integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants or more conventional pulverized coal power plants.  The issue centers around the ability of IGCC power plants to be easily converted to capture the carbon dioxide for sequestration vs the lower cost to build the more conventional plants.

A relatively small group headed by American Electric Power, the nation's largest electric utility, are planning to build IGCC power plants, while most of the industry including Peabody energy, the largest private coal producer who are not comfortable with the technology or the costs of IGCC.  The IGCC plants costs 15 to 20% more to build but would be far less expensive to retrofit for carbon capture if limits are placed on global warming emissions. About a dozen of the 140 planned coal-fired power plants in the U.S. expect to use the newer technology.

Both technologies can reduce criteria emissions to below standards, the question is whether and, if so, when will controls be placed on global warming gases.

GreatPoint Energy Catalytic Coal Methanation

GreatPoint Energy is developing a gasification process for converting coal into high value clean natural gas which they call Bluegas^TM. The gas is 98% methane (1000 BTU/ft³), meeting all natural gas purity requirements and can be transported using the existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure.  The company plans on building, owning and operating the production facilities and to sell the gas. Because domestic natural gas has passed peak production rates, the US has the world's largest coal reserves and because natural gas is the fuel of choice for many uses; given a low cost source of gas, the company believes there is a huge potential market for their gas.

GreatPoint Energy’s technology uses the same basic technique as is used in petroleum refining to “refine” coal by employing a novel catalyst to “crack” the carbon bonds and transform the coal into clean burning methane (natural gas). This single stage process is called catalytic coal methanation and forms the basis of their process. By adding a catalyst to the coal gasification system, they are able to reduce the operating temperature in the gasifier and at the same time directly promote the reactions that yield methane (CH4). Very low cost carbon sources (such as lignites, sub-bituminous coals, tar sands, petroleum coke and petroleum resid) can be used as feedstocks.

Coal-to-diesel Breakthrough Could Drastically Cut Oil Imports

Professor Alan Goldman and his Rutgers team in collaboration with researchers at the University of North Carolina  have invented a new catalytic process that could increase the yield of a clean form of diesel fuel made from coal.  The method uses a pair of catalysts to improve the yield of diesel fuel from Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis. 

The F-T process produces a mixture of hydrocarbons -- many of which are not useful as fuel. The low-weight and the high-weight Fischer-Tropsch products are useful – the light as gas and the medium-heavy as diesel fuel.  The medium-weight products are not useful for much of anything.

Their method uses a pair of catalysts to convert the undesirable hydrocarbons into diesel. The catalysts work by rearranging the carbon atoms, transforming six-carbon atom hydrocarbons, for example, into two- and ten-carbon atom hydrocarbons. The ten-carbon version can be used to power diesel engines. The first catalyst removes hydrogen atoms, which allows the second catalyst to rearrange the carbon atoms. Then the first catalyst restores the hydrogen, to form fuel.

Hydrogen from Coal Technologies

This post is being made to 1) explain the technology that is being proposed to produce and distribute hydrogen and 2) to help both my readers and myself understand whether the hydrogen economy is the right choice for our future energy requirements or whether some alternative technologies would make a better choice.  The material has been taken from the two resources noted at the end of the post, with very little editing, except to use only the pertinent excerpts.  The Program Plan is a very long document and I have tried to use only the portions that will help us understand the technology. Please also see my comments at the end of the post.

There are many long-term options for providing hydrogen as a fuel of the future, but coal is the leading contender to provide a hydrogen source in the near term. In his remarks on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) hydrogen research activities at the National Hydrogen Association Annual Conference in March 2005, Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman stated “The progress that DOE and the automotive and energy industries have made so far has us on the path to an industry commercialization decision in 2015. If our research program is successful, it is not unreasonable to think we could see the beginning of mass market penetration by 2020.”

"While someday we may be able to produce hydrogen by breaking up water molecules in association with the high-temperature heat from nuclear power reactors, or through renewable energy technologies," said Chris Shaddix, principal investigator for clean coal combustion at Sandia, "right now the most cost-effective way to produce hydrogen is with coal."

Two approaches to burning coal now are under study. The first, oxy-combustion, combines coal with pure oxygen. The second, gasification, burns coal only partially to create a fuel gas.

Oxy-combustion is driven by concern over emissions of CO2 and other pollutants. Burning coal in oxygen is a near-term solution that can produce exhaust streams that are close to pure CO2, Shaddix said. Harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides, sulfur compounds and mercury are virtually eliminated.

Companies in Japan, Canada, Germany and elsewhere favor oxy-combustion and are building pilot plants.  U.S. companies tend to favor gasification technologies, which offer higher efficiency and low pollution formation. Gasification technologies are the only ones described in this post.

Floating Gas-to-Liquids Plants Proposed

Syntroleum Corp., Tulsa, has signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture with Bluewater Energy Services BV to develop and finance gas-to-liquids plants on offshore floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels.

By using this GTL/Oil FPSO technology concept, companies can develop offshore gas reserves (stranded gas) that otherwise would be uneconomical and in the process avoid costs of reinjection of natural gas back into the reservoir.

The purpose of the joint venture is to develop, construct, own and operate GTL/Oil FPSO vessels. The companies are working together to identify projects that will allow the joint venture to participate in the upstream development of oil and gas reserves and the downstream processing of those at offshore locations. A detailed feasibility study conducted by the companies has addressed a design of up to 17,000 barrels per day of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) products, 40,000 barrel per day of crude oil, and 10,000 barrels per day of condensate on a FPSO vessel, which would include around 2.3 million barrels of storage capacity. The GTL/Oil FPSO study follows Syntroleum’s work with its GTL barge concept for shallow water.

Resource: Syntroleum/Bluewater to Form Joint Venture, Bluewater press release, March 6, 2006

Technorati tags: gas-to-liquids, stranded gas, energy, technology

The Energy Blog: Floating Gas-to-Liquids Plants Proposed

Medicine Bow CTL Project

Significant progress is being made on development of the largest coal liquefaction plant in the US. Medicine Bow Fuel & Power LLC (MBF&P), a wholly-owned subsidiary of DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC (DKRW), headquartered in Houston, Texas has signed licenses to use key technologies and an agreement for the coal supply. DKRW's proposed coal-to-liquids facility is in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. The first phase of the Medicine Bow project is designed to produce approximately 11,000 bpd of ultra-clean diesel fuel and other fuels from Carbon Basin coal. MBF&P plans to eventually expand the plant capacity to 40,000 bpd. DKRW had previously announced that construction was to begin in 2006, with initial operations to begin in the 2008-2010 timeframe.

It announced on March 1 that it has signed a site license agreement with GE Infrastructure Technology LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), for the use of GE's patented and proprietary coal gasification technology.

DKRW also has an agreement with Rentech, Inc. (AMEX:RTK), a Denver based technology company to license their Fischer Tropsch technology for use in the Project.

MBF&P has already entered into an agreement with Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE:ACI), the second largest U.S. coal miner owner and operator, for the purchase of high btu, low sulfur coal from the Carbon Basin Reserve. Arch will act as constructor and operator for the Medicine Bow coal mine sufficient to support the first phase of the Medicine Bow project and to expand up to 40,000 bpd.

IGCC Project Gets Started

IGCC is finally getting underway as indicated by the following announcement.  It isn't surprising that the first commercial plant will use gasifier technology developed by the government.  The government is putting up nearly half of the money for the project, which seems too much, but the price for progress comes high.  I assume they are justifying that because the gasifier technology has not been proven on such a large scale.  Subtracting 10% for engineering from the total results in a cost of $1,759/kw.  Scaling that up the 285 MW plant by the 0.7 power to 500 MW results in $1,484/kW which is close to the $1,500/W cost they are forecasting for that size IGCC plants.  IGCC plants reduce emissions of SO2, NOx and mercury to much lower levels than required by EPA. Although the plant does not use sequestration of the CO2, it will reduce the CO2 emissions by 20-25% compared to more conventional plants.  The reduction comes primarily from the increased efficiency of the plant. The plant was first announced in October of 2004, but the formal agreement was not signed until today.

ATLANTA, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Southern Company and the U.S. Department of Energy have signed a cooperative agreement to formally launch the design and construction of an advanced 285-megawatt integrated gasification combined cycle facility in central Florida, which will be the cleanest, most efficient generating technology in the world today using coal as its fuel source. 

Southern Company, in partnership with Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) and Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), will develop the facility through its Southern Power subsidiary, which builds, owns, and manages the company's competitive generation assets. It will be located at OUC's Stanton Energy Center in Orange County, Fla., near Orlando. ....

Another IGCC Plant

The ERORA Group LLC of Louisville, Kentucky, an independent power developer, is developing an IGCC power plant near Taylorville, Illinois.  It has signed a license agreement with GE Energy, authorizing the use of GE's gasification technology for a proposed power generating station. GE also has been selected to provide the process design for the gasification portion of the facility and the power island.  The plant would be fueled with Illinois basin coal and would generate approximately 770 gross megawatts of power, with additional consideration for co-production of products derived from synthesis gas. Construction is set to begin in 2007, with the facility expected to begin commercial operation in 2010.

The project received a major boost recently when Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced $5 million in public and private support. ERORA will receive $2.5 million for front-end engineering and design work from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and another $2.5 million from the public-private Illinois Clean Coal Review Board.

I just want to keep reminding every one that IGCC Is coming.  The construction schedule is quite aggressive and it will be one of the first if not the first IGCC plant to be completed. BTW I just read that it is anticipated that over 75% of new coal fired power plants built after 2010 would be IGCC plants. I would have hoped that it would be higher, unless a better technology, like direct carbon fuel cells, comes along faster than anticipated.

GE Gasification Technology Licensed for Proposed IGCC Plant in Illinois, press release, ERORA Group LLC of Louisville, Kentucky, January 23, 2006

Technorati tags: IGCC, coal, electric generation, energy, technology

Lima Energy IGCC Upgraded to 600 MW, to Operate in 2008

Global Energy has upgraded its Lima Energy IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) power generation facility to 600MW (megawatts) from the its originally announced size of 540MW. The increase in power output is a result of engineering optimization work and will enhance the project economic value. The project is currently in construction with concrete foundation work being carried out at this time.  Construction, which will accelerate in 2006, will involve several hundred workers over three years.  Commercial Operation of the IGCC is expected in late 2008.

The Ultra Clean High Tech IGCC is the most advanced IGCC (see previous post for explanation of how IGCC works) in the U.S.  It is the cleanest and most efficient solid fuel (coal or petcoke) based power generation system.  Gasification will convert solid petroleum coke feedstock into synthetic gas, which after purification will be both the fuel for the gas turbine power generation and the feedstock to produce synthetic gas products such as hydrogen and synthetic natural gas. In a combined cycle system a high-efficiency gas turbine uses the clean SG fuel to produce electricity.  Exhaust heat from the gas turbine is recovered to produce steam—to power traditional high-efficiency steam turbines, thereby greatly increasing the efficiency of the IGCC power plant. The synthetic gas is produced at less than half of today's market prices for gas, thus enabling the combined cycle power plant in the IGCC to produce low cost, clean and efficient electric power. If the base- load coal fleet were converted to IGCC, the U.S. would benefit from up to 20% more power and 10 times cleaner emissions from the same annual coal consumption.

Rentech Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) News

Rentech (AMEX:RTK), a Colorado company that is developing gas-to-liquids (GTL)/coal-to-liquids (CTL) processes to convert synthesis gas made from natural gas, coal and other carbon-bearing materials into ultra-low sulfur and ultra-low aromatic fuels, in December announced three news items.

Plans for building a 10,000-plus barrel per day CTL pant are proceeding with the signing of an agreement with the Adams County, Mississippi Board of Supervisors for six months exclusive rights to negotiate the purchase or lease of a 100 acre site located just outside of Natchez.  Rentech plans to build and operate the plant which would supply fuels preferentially to emergency facilities and first responders for their backup power fuel needs.  CTL diesel fuels have a shelf life of at least eight years compared to a three to six month life for petroleum fuels.  By having a reliable standby fuel with a long shelf life, emergency agencies will be able to supply the necessary support immediately during critical situations like these presented during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which was not the case during those two tragic events. 

More Proof of Global Warming

Dr Michael Coughlin, head of the National Climate Centre was reported as saying that the world is now hotter than any time since prehistoric times.  He is supported by research using gas trapped in Antarctic ice going back 650,000 years that found that current levels of carbon dioxide in the air are 27% higher than at any tiny time during that period.  This goes along with NASA's report that says that 2005 is the hottest year on record.

Effects that have been attributed to the warming include that the Artic sea ice dropped to its lowest level ever, the record hurricane season and an unprecedented drought that reduced the flow of the Amazon river to its lowest ever rate.  Canada and Australia had their hottest ever weather this year, while India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Algeria suffered heatwaves reaching 50C.

If this isn't strong enough proof that global warming is real, what do you need Mr President?  It certainly should be enough to convince you to take all possible measures to reduce global warming, which should include as its main point the reduction of burning of fossil fuels. The time required for any mitigating measures to have any impact is so great, that all stops have to be pulled out now.  Items that have been repeatedly indicated as being necessary include:

How GE Captures New Energy Markets

An article from Fortune magazine via the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, gives a comprehensive review of General Electrics activities in the energy market. In perhaps the broadest and largest corporate effort anywhere, GE spent $700 million in 2004 on clean-energy R&D--ranging from hydrogen production to solar cells, cleaner coal plants, and biofuels. Their wide variety of activities include:

• Their very successful wind turbine business has sold 5,500 turbines since 2002, with 1,600 to be installed this year.  They hope wind power will eventually supply 20% of U.S.'s total energy.
• They are developing hybrid electric locomotives that they have running on an eight mile long test track, which they will start selling in 2007.
• They have many hydrogen related projects including solid oxide fuel cells for stationary applications, ICE engines modified to run on hydrogen, gas stations that use electrolysis to generate hydrogen, methods of storing hydrogen in man-made nanoparticles or in metal hydrides and thermochemical methods of producing hydrogen.
• GE has been building new high temperature nuclear reactors in Europe and Asia.
• They have teamed with Exxon Mobil and Schlumberger to study how to sequester carbon dioxide.
• They are developing IGCC technology for producing electricity and hydrogen.
• GE is pursuing three ways of using solar cells: developing more efficient solar cells, developing electrochemical cells that produce hydrogen, reducing the size of thermal solar farms from hundreds of acres to tens of acres by improving concentrating solar system efficiency.  An example of their research in solar is the development of nanodiodes--whiskers 1/80,000th the thickness of a human hair--displaying a photovoltaic effect that converts sunlight into electricity.

John K. Reinker, who runs a team of about 60 scientists on hydrogen related subjects, is excited about the sheer scope of GE's energy R&D. "I don't think there is any other company in the world that is looking at so many energy technologies and as a result is able to understand which have the most probability of success." Thomas Edison, GE's original research scientist, would be proud.

More blogs about wind power, hydrogen, fuel cells, solar, nuclear, sequestration, hybrids, coal, alternative energy, renewable, renewable energy, energy

Syntroleum inks three MOUs for GTL plants

Via the Oil and Gas Journal -- Syntroleum Corp., Tulsa, (Nasdaq: SYNM) recently signed memoranda of understanding that it says could lead to construction of three gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants using its proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technology:

-- Syntroleum and Papua New Guinea's Ministry of Planning and Development will examine development of a 50,000 b/d GTL plant near the capital city Port Moresby as part of an industrial complex dedicated to gas-based industries. The plant would share a natural gas pipeline and infrastructure facilities with other possible gas conversion participants, including ammonia, methanol, and power plant developers. Papua New Guinea's proved and probable natural gas reserves are estimated at more than 15 tcf. About 6 tcf currently are dedicated to a planned pipeline linking the country to Australia.

-- Syntroleum and service company PT Elnusa, a subsidiary of Indonesia's state-owned company Pertamina, will establish a joint study to identify suitable existing gas reserves for development of a GTL facility in Indonesia. The companies are looking at numerous properties within Indonesia as potential sites for a plant, Syntroleum said.

-- Ivanhoe Energy (Middle East) Inc., a Syntroleum licensee, and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding C(EGAS) will prepare a joint study to determine the economical feasibility of constructing and operating a GTL plant in Egypt. A site has not yet been determined. EGAS would commit as much as 4.2 tcf of natural gas, or about 600 MMcfd, for a 20-year period if the study proves the project viable, Ivanhoe reported.

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Coal-to-Liquids to be Used in Fertilizer Plant

Rentech (RDC) announced today that it would purchase Royster-Clark Nitrogen of East Dubuqe, IL, a fertilizer producer, and convert the existing natural gas-fed plant to coal-fed gasification plant.  The conversion calls for two gasification trains and a spare, standby gasifier, to process 5,200 tons per day of coal.  The conversion will increase the capacity of the plant from 830 tons per day to 900 tons per day of nitrogen (in the form of ammonia) as well as producing 87 million gallons per year of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) liquid fuels and a surplus of electricity.  The conversion is estimated to take three and one-half years.  RDC will use the Conocco-Phillips gasification process with its slurry reactor, iron-based catalyst FT process.  Rentech believes that when the project is completed it will be the first U.S. plant to produce commercial quantities of fuel using coal-to liquids (CTL) technology.

Qatar GTL Plant to Start Production 2Q 2006

"The $1bn Oryx gas-to-liquid (GTL) project at Ras Laffan, Qatar, the world’s first commercial GTL plant, will start production in the second quarter of 2006. Oryx GTL, a joint venture between QP (51%) and South Africa’s Sasol (49%), has an installed production capacity of 34,000 bpd of high-performance and low-emission diesel, high-grade naphtha and LPG. About 90% of the project work at Ras Laffan has already been completed. ... laid the foundation stone for the project in December 2003. ... the economic prospects for GTL fuels are excellent for two major reasons: the high quality of GTL products and a growing worldwide diesel market."

The worlds first commercial plant may be a bit misleading if correct, Shell, among others, has operating plants, this may be the first independent plant selling its products on the open market.  The plant uses natural gas for a feedstock, so it does not alleviate our depletion of natural gas and oil.  The main advantage of the process is that the products are much more easily shipped than natural gas which has to go through liquefaction, be shipped in special ships and then gasified at the other end of the shipment.  If GTL proves economical it could mean that the number of controversial LNG terminals could be reduced and risks of environmental damage reduced.

Resource: Gulf Times Newspaper - Qatar, Gulf and World News , Oct. 26, 2005

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Gilberton Coal Liquefaction Project Moves Ahead

The Gilberton Coal Liquefaction Project took another step foreword when it was revealed that essentially all of the fuel produced by the plant would be purchased under an agreement with the state of Pennsylvania.  This follows an announcement in July that language in the Energy bill had authorized financing for the nation’s first clean coal-to-liquid fuel plant.  Previously Waste Management and Processors, Inc., (WMPI) had announced agreements with SASOL to use their Fischer-Tropsch liquefaction process and with Shell Global Solutions U.S. for possible use of their gasification technology.  In addition to Shell and SASOL the project team includes Nextant, a Bechtel Corporation affiliate and Uhde, an engineering company and Shell gasification technology supplier and contractor. Ground breaking is scheduled for next spring with operation to follow in 30 months.

A contract with DOE calls for construction of a $612,000, 5,000 bpd pilot plant financed by a $100,00 grant from DOE, loan guarantees from DOE, $47,000 investment tax credits from PA and revenue from sale of its products.  The pilot plant will use 4,700 tons of coal waste (referred to a anthracite culm) to produces 5,000 gpd of fuel and 41MWe of electric power. The transportation fuels produced will be in the form of ultra-clean high-cetane diesel fuel from the FT process and will contain no sulfur or aromatics. The gasifier and following emissions control system will remove contaminants from the plant’s vent to very low levels, below today's standards.  This stream will contain concentrated carbon dioxide which could be captured for sequestration, but funding for this was not included in this project. The gross plant efficiency is estimated to be about 45% based on the total energy input and considering the energy value of all of the plant’s products.

According to a Barrons article, John W. Rich president of WMPI, is talking about producing 2 million bpd by 2015.

A previous post describes the coal-to-liquids process.

Resources:

Gilberton Coal-to-Clean Fuels and Power Co-Production Project, Project Facts, DOE
Ultra Clean Fuels, Waste Management and Processors, Inc., Gilberton, PA, website
"Hold on to Your Gas Cap; Coal-Based Fuel Is Near", Barrons, 9/17/05

Technorati tags: coal-to-liquids, coal, energy, gasification,

About IGCC Power Plants

Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants are believed to be the type of power plants that will predominately be used to add to our electrical power supply, replace our aging coal power plants and out increasingly expensive natural gas power plants. (Wabash River, IN IGCC plant shown above) The process offers options to eliminate greenhouse gases, produce hydrogen and/or produce liquid fuels.

The process used by IGCC plants can be broken down into five broad steps:

1. the coal is gasified to produce a synthetic gas (syngas)
2. the pollutants are removed from the syngas, then electricity is generated using a combined cycle, consisting of the following three steps:
3. a gas turbine-generator burns the syngas
4. heat from the gasification and the exhaust heat from the gas turbine are used to create steam
5. the steam is used to power a steam turbine-generator.

The potential for carbon dioxide sequestration makes IGCC technology even more appealing and environmentally responsible.  If desired hydrogen can be separated from the syngas stream.  A more complex, but even more economical option is to generate Fischer-Tropsch liquid fuels from a portion of the syngas. 

The following are the characteristics of an IGCC plant:

• SOx, NOx and particulate emissions are much lower in IGCC plants than from a modern coal plant. Its VOC emissions and mercury emissions are comparable.
• IGCC plants emit approximately 20% less CO2 emissions than a modern coal plant.
• IGCC plants use 20-40% less water than a modern coal plant.
• IGCC plants operate at higher efficiencies than conventional coal fired power plants thus requiring less fuel and producing less emissions.  Current efficiency is 42% with efficiencies as high as 60% expected in the very near future using a high efficiency turbines and some other process improvements.
• Costs for electricity, without CO2 capture, is about 20% higher than in a modern coal plant.  Electricity costs are 40% lower than from a natural gas IGCC plant with natural gas at $6.50 per MMbtu.
• CO2 can be captured from an IGCC plant much more easily that from a conventional coal plant at an an additional cost increase of 25-30% for capture and sequestration, without transportation charges.
• IGCC offers the possibility to capture the hydrogen that is part of the syngas stream, in an economic manner.

Shell Invests in Choren BTL Technology

Carbo-V is the patented biomass gasification process of CHOREN Industries that is used to produce SunDiesel. Shell Deutschland Oil Gmbh recently purchased an equity interest in CHOREN. The combination of Shell’s SMDS (Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis) Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis process with the Carbo-V gasification process may be a winning combination in BTL processes. CHOREN is planning to build a commercial 15,000 tonnes per year (4,620,000 US gallons/yr) plant using these technologies.

The Carbo-V’s three step biomass gasification process produces syngas without the tars and other impurities usually associated with biomass gasification. The Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) technology is the low-temperature, cobalt catalyst based FT process that they use for production of synthetic oil liquids. FT liquids are very clean, sulfur free and aromatic free; that meet the most stringent environmental standards.

Coal to Liquids (CTL) update

The Gilberton, PA coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant was advanced by the 2005 energy bill and Syntroleum Corporation and Linc Energy have signed a memorandum of agreement to pursue the development of a CTL project in Australia.

Gilberton CTL Plant

Funding for the Gilberton, PA was considerably eased by language in the 2005 energy bill.  Under provisions of the energy bill, Waste Management and Processors Inc. (WMPI) will be able to use a $100 million federal grant to secure loan guarantees for its planned coal-to-oil plant in Gilberton. 

With the federal guarantees, John W. Rich, president of WMPI, is "100% optimistic" about getting the financing to build the plant.  "There are about a dozen banks interested.  This is something all the banks would be interested in.  It's the government saying to the banks, 'don't worry about the loan."  "Now, we're talking about the spring of next year" for groundbreaking, with completion in another 30 months, Rich said about the plant.  The money already has been approved by the U.S. Department of Energy as a Clean Coal Power Initiative grant, according to U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum. 

While the technology has been used in Germany and South Africa, Rich's plant would be the first in the United States.

Syntroleum Corporation/Link Energy Memorandum of Agreement

Syntroleum Corporation, Tulsa, OK, USA, has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Australian-based Linc Energy to pursue the development of a coal-to-liquids (CTL) project using the Syntroleum(R) Process in Queensland, Australia. The agreement, combines Syntroleum's unique air-based Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology with Linc Energy's underground coal gasification (UCG) expertise. The agreement is part of Linc Energy's ongoing Chinchilla Project which also includes early development of an integrated a power plant. 

The UCG process utilized at the Chinchilla facility is similar to commercial techniques used in Russia for over 30 years. It involves injecting air and steam into an underground coal seam through a series of boreholes and igniting the coal in-situ. The coal seam is gasified and hot product gas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide, or synthesis gas) is produced via a second series of boreholes.  The UCG syngas, undergoes sulfur removal and additional conditioning at the surface.  The syngas is similar to that obtained from conventional surface coal gasification systems, but production is achieved at a much lower cost.

"They have produced commercial volumes of nitrogen-diluted syngas which we believe have the characteristics uniquely suitable for Syntroleum's air-based FT process," said Ken Roberts, senior vice-president of business development at Syntroleum.  The synthesis gas flows into a reactor, where in a reaction based on F-T chemistry and containing a proprietary catalyst developed by Syntroleum, the gas is converted into synthetic hydrocarbons commonly referred to as "synthetic crude oil."

Further discussion of CTL can be found at About Coal Liquefaction.

Resources:

"Rich project receives boost", The Republican & Herald, 8/3/05   
"Syntroleum and Linc Energy Plan to Integrate Air-Based Fischer-Tropsch Technology with Underground Coal Gasification", Syntroleum press release, 8/15/05

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About Gas to Liquids (GTL)

Gas to Liquids (GTL) is the process that converts natural gas to a diesel like fuel (FT diesel).  The process is scalable and can be applied to to both large and small deposits of natural gas.

The future for the technology lies mainly with natural gas - in particular, low-cost remote natural gas or gas associated with oil production that is now flared, but does not justify the cost and scale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities or a pipeline.  In these cases, GTL offers an economical way to convert the gas to liquid fuels or a refinery feedstock that can be readily transported.

The processes produces diesel like fuel with an energy density comparable to conventional diesel, a higher cetane number permitting superior performance, low aromatic content and a very low sulfur content.  Conventional diesel fuel has increasingly unacceptable particulate matter in its emissions composed of unburnt carbon and aromatics, and compounds of sulfur.  The low sulfur content of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) diesel, leads to significant reductions in particulate matter and the low aromatic content reduces the toxicity of the particulate matter.

The GTL process is composed of three steps:

1. Reforming of natural gas to produce a synthesis gas (syngas) that has a hydrogen:carbon monoxide ratio of approximately 2:1.  The syngas step converts the natural gas to hydrogen and carbon monoxide by partial oxidation, steam reforming or a combination of the two processes. 
2. The resulting syngas is fed to the Fischer-Tropsch reactor and converted to mostly straight-chain, waxy paraffins in the presence of a catalyst. The catalyst is either iron or cobalt based and the reaction is highly exothermic. The temperature, pressure and catalyst determine whether a light or heavy syncrude is produced.  For example at 330C with an iron catalyst mostly gasoline and olefins are produced whereas at 180 to 250C with a cobalt catalyst mostly diesel and waxes are produced.   
3. The high molecular weight liquid products can be hydro-cracked in a simple low-pressure process to produce naphtha, kerosene and diesel that are virtually free of sulfur and aromatics; These derivative fuels are therefore potentially more valuable, notably in the US, Europe and Japan with high environmental standards.

About Coal Liquefaction

Coal liquefaction is the conversion of coal into a synthetic oil in order to supplement natural sources of petroleum.  It is an attractive technology because 1) it is well developed and thus could be implemented fairly rapidly and 2) there are relatively large quantities of coal reserves. Coal liquefaction is seen by many as a necessary technology to replace other sources of transportation fuels before production of biofuels or fuel cells can be ramped up to meet the gap left by declining supplies of oil. Hirsch, SAIC, 2/05, p56 found that coal liquefaction and heavy oil refining were potentially the two largest sources of transportation fuels that could be used to mitigate the peaking of conventional oil.  The Hirsch report is the most comprehensive and authoritative analysis of mitigating peak oil.

Two methods of producing liquid fuels are direct coal liquefaction (DCL) and indirect coal liquefaction (ICL). In DCL the coal is directly contacted with a catalyst at elevated temperatures in the presence of added hydrogen.  The ICL process consists to two major steps: 1) gasification to produce a synthesis gas and 2) conversion of the gas to a liquid by synthesis over a catalyst in a Fischer-Tropsch process.  Removal of the sulfur from the coal before passing the gas over the catalyst is necessary to prevent "poisoning" of the catalyst.  Removal of the CO2 is also desirable to improve synthesis efficiency.  Without mitigation coal liquefaction emits 7-10 times the CO2 of oil production.  This deficiency is nearly totally eliminated in the coal gasification projects being demonstrated by DOE.  DCL processes are more efficient than ICL processes, 67% vs 55%, but higher quality coal and a more complicated process is required for DCL.  Combining coal liquefaction with electricity production leads to a much more efficient process that utilizes some of the heat that would otherwise be wasted. (Technology Status Report 010: Coal Liquefaction, UK Department of Trade and Industry, 1999, Larson and Tingen, Princeton, 2003, Direct Coal Liquefaction, SRI, 3/16/05 )

Work was all but stopped in the US on coal liquefaction by about 1997.  In a 2003 study prepared for DOE, Gasification Plant Cost and Performance Optimization, Task 2: Topical Report Coke/Coal Gasification with Liquids Coproduction it was concluded that the overall efficiency is improved, while the cost of electricity is reduced.  "Adding hydrocarbon liquids coproduction can improve the return of an IGCC power plant when oil prices are relatively high.  This is especially true for a coke coproduction plant because besides providing a refinery with a means of disposing of the low-value byproduct coke, it makes liquids which can be upgraded in the refinery to high-value liquid transportation fuels."  Emissions in lb/btu were lower.  The study assumed oil at $30/bbl.  Whether related to this or not, at about this time, a contract was awarded for building a demonstration plant in Gilberton, PA which will coproduce synthetic fuels and electricity. (more later)

Coal is a much larger energy resource than oil or natural gas with reserves of over one trillion tons, enough to last for 150-200 years at present consumption rates (IEA, 12/10,2003).  The R/P (reserves /production per year) is 164 years for coal compared to 66.7 years for natural gas and 40.5 years for oil. The US (27.1%), Russian Federation (17.1%), China (12.6%), India (10.2%), Australia (8.6%) and South Africa (5.4%) have the largest coal reserves. (BP Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2005).   While R/P ratios do not indicate an accurate forecast of the length of time a resource may be available, it does give a relative value as to the quantity of the remaining reserves.  The actual time a reserve will last at the current production rate is a fraction of these values.  Peaking of production of a resource may occur at an R/P of 20-40.  R/P values do not take into account the future discoveries,  increasing demand for these resources or how easy (expensive) it is to recover the resources.  What these ratios do emphasize is the limited quantities of our reserves of fossil fuels and the need to plan for alternate energy sources. 

While converting natural gas to liquids (GTL) is a much simpler and less capital intensive process for producing liquid fuels, natural gas is more expensive than coal and is available in lessor quantities - it is believed by many that the peak of natural gas production will occur in less than 30 years, perhaps 15 years.  GTL is a much cleaner process - natural gas is a relatively clean feedstock, the contaminants in coal must be removed prior to synthesis, requiring a more complex process.    Despite these factors, the cost of oil from coal liquefaction is generally believed to be $30.-$40. per bbl., on the same order as liquids from the GTL process (Silverstein, UtilPoint, 2004).  Thus it is believed that coal liquefaction will play a more important role is the supply of transportation fuels.

Zero Point Energy

Mark Goldes, president of Magnetic Power Inc. (MPI) claims their company could have 1 kW Magnetic Power Modules™, able to generate electricity for less than one cent per kilowatt-hour, ready for sale by strategic partners next year.  According to Mark Goldes, Chairman & CEO, in an item posted on June 16, a revolutionary family of energy conversion technologies has emerged that is likely to prove extremely important.  This breakthrough requires no fuel and produces no pollution. It opens a path to cost competitive electric power, automotive, and later aerospace propulsion. 

Scientists have long been aware that the earth is immersed in an extremely dense sea of energy, which permeates every nook and cranny of the universe. It is only recently that it was realized that this huge reservoir could be an available source of usable energy.  Science employs a variety of names to describe this new field: space energy, vacuum energy, dark energy, the quantum vacuum, and Zero Point Energy (ZPE).

One kilowatt Magnetic Power Modules™ are expected to be in production next year by a Strategic Partner, aimed at the market for portable generators, as well as homes. Modules can be combined for greater power output, in a manner analogous to solar cells. Compact automotive power systems, as well as megawatt modules, appear to be feasible.

Gee whiz, what are all doing warring about an energy crisis?  I just came across this concept from a post in AltEng.  Is it for real or do we have another cold fusion mania about to happen?  I guess we can wait another year to find out the answer.

Technocrati tags: zero point energy, free energy

Biorefineries Overview

A biorefinery is a plant that converts biomass into useful products such as fuels, chemicals and power.  Three types of refineries are being used and developed:

1. Sugar platform biorefineries, as exemplified by ethanol plants, are in widespread use, are based on the fermentation of sugars.
2. Close coupled systems that primarily produce fuel that can be used to produce power or heat from either syngas or pyrolysis oil.
3. Thermochemical refineries that are more analogous to petroleum refineries which can produce an array of products in addition to fuel and power.

The sugar platform refineries refineries are in common use, producing  3.41 billion gallons of ethanol, in the U.S., in 2004.  These have been developed significantly since they were first used.  In the 1980's they were rather simple facilities that fermented corn to produce ethanol.  The process has developed rapidly and today they are highly integrated facilities that are much larger, use much less energy, less manpower and produce byproducts as well as ethanol; thus reducing the production costs significantly.  However the cost of the feedstock, the largest single cost, has not gone down significantly and the quantity available will be limited by land availability at some time in the future if only corn is used as the feedstock.  New pretreatment techniques are now starting to be used that permit recovering the sugar from the cellulose in the corn residues that were formally wasted, thus increasing the supply of feedstock greatly.  In the next few years it is anticipated that the industry will be able to process any cellulosic material, such as grasses, willows, municipal solid waste and forest residues; increasing the availability of feedstock by orders of magnitude.

Close coupled pyrolysis systems are available commercially and are used to produce fuel for engines or gas turbines or to supply heat for boilers for either heating or generating electricity.  These systems are relatively small, but fill a need for generating energy in relatively remote locations.  These systems are more widely used in Europe where energy prices are higher than in the U.S.  It is expected that they will be more widely used in the U.S. as more conventional energy prices escalate.

Thermochemical refineries, also known as Bio-Gas Fischer-Tropsch refineries (BG-FT), are still in the early developmental stage with only a few small commercial units in operation.  They offer the advantage that almost any fuel or petroleum like product can be produced using this method.  This is the only way that diesel fuel can be produced in large quantities using biomass as the feedstock supply. The supply of biodiesel will eventually be limited by available land unless a more efficient feedstock, such as algae, is able to be used. Their are some technical problems to be solved in the BG-FT process, but suppliers are finding some niche markets where these problems have been overcome. 

About Thermochemical (BTL) Biorefineries

A biorefinery is a plant that converts biomass into useful products such as fuels, chemicals and power.  Three types of refineries are being developed.  1) The sugar biorefinery, which in widespread use, is based on the fermentation of sugars.  2) A close coupled system that primarily produces fuel that is used to produce power or heat from either syngas or pyrolysis oil. 3) This post discusses a thermochemical refinery that is more analogous to a petroleum refinery and can produce an array of products in addition to fuel and power. This process is referred to as the Biomass to Liquid (BTL) process. This process consists of:

1. Feed processing and handling to prepare the biomass for gasification.
2. Gasification of the biomass, producing syngas.
3. Syngas pretreatment prior to liquefaction to remove undesirable components.
4. Gas to liquids (Fischer-Tropsch) technology.
5. Product Refining of the liquids into fuels and byproducts.

Gasification and Fischer-Tropsch technologies have been discussed previously, but some refinements of these technologies are necessary in the context of a BG-FT process.

Technical Note: Gasification

Gasifiers convert carbonaceous feedstock (coal, wood, cornstalks, most any biomass) into gaseous products.  The process usually takes place at high temperatures and pressures and with a carefully controlled amount of oxygen.  The oxygen can come from air, pure oxygen or from steam. At operating conditions a chemical reaction occurs that converts the feedstock into a synthesis gas or "syngas".   The syngas is a mixture of predominately carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2).  The amount of heat that can be recovered from burning syngas can be as much as 50% higher than direct combustion of the feedstock.

Gasifiers can divided into three general catagories:

1. Moving Bed Gasifiers (dry ash)
2. Fluidized Bed Gasifiers and
3. Entrained Bed Gasifiers

Descriptions of several specific types and subtypes can be found at this NETL site.

Technical Note: Fischer-Tropsch Process

The Fischer-Tropsch process often comes up in the discussion of new technologies for producing liquid fuels from solids or gases.  The Fischer-Tropsch process produces high value, clean-burning fuels.  FT fuels can be used in conventional engines with no modification and have improved combustion which reduces emissions, but may have a lower fuel economy.  The resulting fuels are colorless, odorless and low in toxicity.   FT fuels have less sulfur, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter emissions than petroleum fuels.