Gas to Liquids Technology (GTL)
Agenda
• Abstract
• Introduction
• What is GTL?
• Why GTL?
• GTL or LNG
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Abstract
• Natural gas is a clean-burning and abundant
energy resource, but much of it resides in
locations remote from an economic means of
transporting it to market
• A logical solution for the problem would be to
liquefy the natural gas, but this option
requires very low temperatures and involves
considerable costs.
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• Another solution is to convert the natural gas
into hydrocarbon liquids using chemical
processing.
• The natural gas to liquids conversion research
is a multidisciplinary effort focused on the
development of an economic one- or two-step
process which will convert natural gas to
gasoline or distillates.
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Introduction
• The end of oil era.
• The world’s plentiful gas supply sources, the
desire for less carbon-intensive fuels, and the
need for cleaner air are driving a continuous
innovation of gas technologies.
• The owners of the “stranded” gas face a
challenge on how to monetize the large
stranded gas resources. This drive leads to the
developments in LNG and GTL technologies.
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The proven gas reserves all over the world
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There is a lot of uses on natural gas:
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What is GTL?
• Gas to Liquids refers to the conversion of natural
gas into high-value commodity liquid fuels
(including methanol, dimethyl ether (DME), and
middle distillates), specialty chemicals and waxes.
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The commercial processing of natural gas into
higher hydrocarbons is performed in three
stages, and each stage is in essence a separate
branch of industry.
• (1) Production of syngas from methane.
• (2) Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis.
• (3) Separation and final processing of products
(product work-up).
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Fig. 1 shows a general GTL-processing scheme.
Syngas Production F-T Synthsis Product Work up
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Production of Syngas [ CO + H2 ]
• Synthesis gas generally refers to a mixture of
carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
• The ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide
varies according to the type of feed, the
method of production, and the end use of the
gas.
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There are different methods for obtaining synthesis gas
Steam/ Methane Reforming (SMR)
Autothermal Reforming (ATR)
Noncatalytic Partial Oxidation (POx)
Catalytic Pox (CPOx)
Heat-Exchange Reforming (HER)
Compact Reforming
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All modern technologies for methane conversion into
syngas are based on steam reforming (SMR) and partial
oxidation (PMO) ).
Carbon dioxide reforming of methane (CDR) has not yet
been commercialized because of the absence of stable
catalysts.
Reactions (1) and (2) occur on supported catalysts,
commonly nickel, at 700–900°С and require much heat
from outer sources.
Major reaction Process ΔH0298,
kJ mol–1
Steam reforming CH4 + H2O ↔ CO + 3H2 (1) 206
Carbon dioxide reforming CH4 + CO2 → 2CO + 2H2 (2) 247
Partial oxidation CH4 + 0,5O2 → CO + 2H2 (3) –36
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Syngas production is quite costly. By different
estimates, capital investments make 40–70% of
the total cost of the GTL technology
Major technological process Share in investments, %
Production of syngas 36–48
Synthesis of hydrocarbons 19–20
Hydrocracking 9–10
Other 23–35
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Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis (FTS)
• The chemistry is based on making longer chain
hydrocarbons from synthesis gas at an elevated pressure
and temperature and in the presence of a catalyst.
• The types of hydrocarbons produced can include olefins,
such as ethylene and propylene and an extremely wide
range of saturated hydrocarbons ranging from methane
and ethane to long “straight-chain” paraffinic waxes. The
oxygenated materials primarily are alcohols, such as
methanol, and ketones, such as acetone.
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• During the 20th century, these fuels were derived from coal in
situations where petroleum was not readily available, such as
Germany in WWII and South Africa during Apartheid.
However, since the beginning of this decade, there has been a
renewed interest in synthetic fuels for four reasons.
1. World demand for petroleum is continually increasing while the world oil
production has plateaued. Thus, there is a tremendous interest in
alternative methods of liquid fuels production.
2. Synthetic fuels burn cleaner than petroleum-based diesel and jet fuels,
because synthetics do not have soot-forming aromatics and other non
hydrocarbon contaminants.
3. There are vast natural gas reserves considered “stranded,” with no viable
local uses or transportation means; these resources can be used to
produce liquid fuels in an FT process.
4. Concerns about greenhouse gas emissions have increased interest in
fuels derived from renewable, non-food biomass feedstocks.
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• The reaction is accomplished in flow reactors
at temperatures of 180–360°С and pressures
of up to 45 atm.
• The products are α-olefins and paraffins,
primarily linear, of a wide fractional
composition, from C1 to C100 and higher
nCO + (2n +1) H2 → CnH2n+2 + nH2O, (5)
nCO + 2nH2 → CnH2n + nH2O. (6)
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• The Fischer–Tropsch synthesis is considered as
hydropolymerization of СО, involving
formation of a wide range of hydrocarbons
• Two types of reactions occur on catalyst
surface: chain propagation via addition of a
monomer to the already formed intermediate
and chain termination forming a product.
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Product work-up
• The hydrocarbon products from FTS have various
chain lengths. They are predominantly paraffin and
alpha olefins if the product is aimed at middle
distillates. Some oxygenates also may be present. The
mixture can be chipped as syncrude, as a feedstock
for refineries
• Alternatively, the syncude may be separated and
further processed at the production site, producing
fuels, fuel blending components or specialty products
(like waxes, lube bases) for local use or export.
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• A mild hydrocracking/ hydro isomerization
breaks down long chain praffins into short
chain normal and iso paraffins with improved
cold properties and boiling range.
• By this route, high quality jet fuel and diesel
fuel blending components can be used to
eliminate olefins and alcohols.
• This type of finishing is necessarily an integral
part of GTL plant.
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Why GTL?
The reasons for this resurgence of interest
stemmed from several factors:
1) Strong demand outlooks for diesel fuel for road
transport, particularly in Europe and developing Asia
2) Increasingly stringent environmentally-driven
specifications for diesel fuel.
GTL diesel has almost zero sulphur, low aromatics, a high
cetane number and lower density than traditional ex-
refinery diesel. It can be used as blendstock to improve
the quality of larger quantities of standard diesel in
markets where specifications are becoming stricter.
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Why GTL?
3) Aspiration to monetize stranded natural gas in
countries where gas markets are small.
4) Aspiration to reduce flaring of associated natural gas
and find an economic use for the gas
5) To substitute the low costs of liquids transport for the
high costs of gas transport.
6) To commercialise otherwise unmarketable natural gas.
7) To increase future supplies of liquid hydrocarbons in
face of long-term rising crude oil costs: thus to provide
an alternative to OPEC dominance of future energy
supplies.
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GTL or LNG
GTL LNG
• GTL is a chemical process • The LNG is essentially a
that methane is converted physical process converting
to naphtha, transportation natural gas to liquid for easy
fuels, and specialty transportation.
chemicals via Fischer-
Tropsch (F-T) synthesis or
into methanol and into
gasoline with a methanol to
gasoline (MTG) direct
process.
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Technical developments of LNG:
1. The LNG process first involves a gas treatment plant for removal
of acid gas (sulfur, carbon dioxide), water, and other
contaminants.
2. The gas is then cooled to separate the heavier hydrocarbons
such as C3, C4, and C5+ components.
3. These heavier components are then fractionated to produce C5+
and Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) products.
4. The purified gas is then liquefied in cryogenic exchangers at a
temperature of -162 °C.
5. LNG, occupies only 1/600 of its original volume in the gaseous
state, is then stored in LNG tanks prior to shipping to market in
heavily insulated tankers .
6. Finally it will be regasified for use in conventional gas markets
such as power generation and domestic applications.
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A typical LNG process is as Fig. 3.
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Technical developments of GTL:
• Like the LNG process, the GTL process also starts with a
gas plant for removal of sulfur, carbon dioxide, water,
other contaminants and heavier hydrocarbon
components.
• However, unlike the LNG process, which is a simple
physical process to liquefy natural gas at a cryogenic
temperature, the GTL process involves several complex
chemical reactions.
• A GTL unit comprises of three core technologies: synthesis
gas (syngas) manufacture, Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis
and hydrocracking as discussed before.
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Products
• GTL plants are capable of • The primary market for
producing a slate of products LNG is power
with highly desirable
generation, industrial
properties, including lube
basestocks, diesels/kerosene, fuel and domestic and
petrochemical naphtha and commercial heating and
waxes air-conditioning.
• These products meet or exceed
virtually all product
requirements and, therefore,
are fully compatible with
petroleum-derived products.
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Economics
Investment Cost:
• investment cost is estimated at
• Investment cost required $200/ton per annum of the LNG
for the GTL route is product.
estimated at $28,000/BPD - Investment cost for a plant
of GTL products. For a producing 4 million tons/yr is
estimated at nearly $800 million
65,000 BPD plant, the - Cost for LNG Ships is $840 million
investment required is - The regasification and other related
therefore estimated at cost counts for nearly 30% of plant
$1.82 billion. investment, which is worth $240
million
• Therefore, the total investment for
the LNG route is approximately $1.88
billion
It can be concluded that the investment cost for both routes is nearly the same.
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Economics
Operating Cost (excluding Depreciation and Feedstock Cost)
• Operating cost of the
• for the GTL case, liquefaction plant counts for
operating cost of GTL nearly $1.0 /MNBTU, while
route is about $230 shipping cost is estimated at
$0.5 /MMBTU and Regasification
million/year lower cost is estimated at 0.3/MMBTU;
than the LNG route. i.e. a total of $1.8 / MMBTU.
• Therefore, the yearly operating
cost for LNG route will be $375
million/year, assuming heating
value of 1000 BTU/SCF, against a
total operating cost of $6/Bbl or
a total operating cost of about
$145million/year
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Economics
Revenue:
• The average GTL products • Based on LNG products
price is $ 20 /Bbl for sales price of
Petrochemical Naphtha $3.5/MMBTU, the
and $ 23 /Bbl for Diesel revenue generated from
oil, for the LPG price, it the LNG production is
revolves around
estimated at about
$180/ton.
$730 million/year.
• The revenue from the GTL
route is therefore
expected to count for
about $515 million/year.
The revenue generated from LNG route is $ 215/year higher than that
from GTL route. However, the increase in revenue for the LNG route is off
- set by nearly a similar increase in its operating cost.
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