Thursday 6th May 2010
Gas to liquids: microchannel technology enables large scale economics at smaller scales

A lack of cost-effective technologies means that associated gas produced along with oil is often disposed of by flaring or re-injection into the reservoir. In a presentation to be given on 10 May 2010 at the Middle East Forum on Flaring Reduction & Gas Utilization in Muscat, Oman – an event organised by the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR) and the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company Masdar – Derek Atkinson, Business Development Director at the Oxford Catalysts Group, will discuss the use of microchannel gas to liquids (GTL) technology as a tool to eliminate flaring.

Derek Atkinson says:

“Thanks to the their small size, high heat and mass transfer properties and resulting high production efficiency, microchannel technology systems offer large scale economics at smaller scales. As a result, microchannel GTL can enable the cost-effective transformation of associated gas into a synthetic crude that can be handled using existing infrastructure. The technical, environmental and commercial advantages associated with microchannel GTL mean that it offers an ideal solution for taking advantage of the abundant potential energy source contained in associated gas.”

Microchannel gas to liquids (GTL)

The GTL process involves two operations: steam methane reforming (SMR), followed by Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis. Microchannel GTL systems take advantage of microchannel steam methane reforming (SMR) and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reactors

In SMR the methane gas is mixed with steam and passed over a catalyst to produce a syngas consisting of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). The reaction is highly endothermic, so requires the input of heat. This can be generated by the combustion of the excess H2. In microchannel SMR reactors the heat-generating combustion and steam methane reforming processes take place in adjacent channels. The high heat transfer properties of the microchannels make the process very efficient.

These same heat transfer properties offer different advantages for the highly exothermic FT reaction. In the FT process, the syngas is converted into paraffinic hydrocarbons over a cobalt catalyst. The range of products that can be produced includes diesel, jet fuel, naphtha and bases for synthetic lubricants. Generally these are of higher quality than those derived by conventional means. Microchannel FT reactors consist of reactor blocks containing thousands of thin process channels filled with FT catalyst, which are interleaved with water-filled coolant channels. As a result they are able to dissipate the heat produced by the FT reaction much more quickly than conventional systems, so more active FT catalysts can be used.

The Oxford Catalysts Group

Oxford Catalysts Group PLC is a listed public company (LSE: OCG) comprised of two operating subsidiaries – Oxford Catalysts Ltd and Velocys, Inc. The Group has over 90 employees and operates from facilities near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK and Columbus, Ohio, US. The company was founded in October 2004 and was admitted to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange on 26th April 2006, having raised £15m before expenses from a solid base of institutional investors.

www.oxfordcatalysts.com

Velocys, Inc.

Velocys, Inc. is based in Columbus, Ohio, US and specialises in the design and development of microchannel process technology for the production of synthetic fuels. The company was spun out of Battelle Memorial Institute, Inc., a major not-for-profit science and technology organisation, in 2001. It owns, or has licenses to, the largest microchannel patent portfolio in the world, with over 550 patent filings, and supports a large microchannel development team. Velocys, Inc. was acquired by Oxford Catalysts in 2008.

www.velocys.com

Oxford Catalysts Ltd

Oxford Catalysts Ltd designs, develops and licences speciality catalysts for the generation of clean fuels from both conventional fossil fuels and certain renewable sources such as biomass. The company focuses on two key platform technologies.

The first is based on a novel class of catalysts made from metal carbides. Aside from their lower cost, these catalysts offer a number of advantages. For example, in some reactions metal loadings can be reduced. In others, the need for precious metal promoters can be eliminated, while still retaining or even exceeding the benefits of traditional catalysts. Applications of these metal-carbide catalysts include hydro-processing and the conversion of natural gas, biogas or coal into sulphur-free diesel.

The second platform is based on a novel a catalyst and fuel combination that produces instant chemical steam at temperatures between 100ºC and 800ºC+ starting from room temperature. Such Instant Steam could have important applications in a broad range of markets, from cleaning and disinfecting, to green energy in the form of motive power or electricity.

www.oxfordcatalysts.com/technology

The Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GGFR) Partnership

The Global Gas Flaring Reduction Public-Private Partnership was launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in August 2002. This World Bank-led initiative facilitates and supports national efforts to use currently flared gas by promoting effective regulatory frameworks and tackling the constraints on gas utilization, such as insufficient infrastructure and poor access to local and international energy markets, particularly in developing countries. The aim of the Partnership is to support national governments, development agencies, and the petroleum industry in their efforts to reduce the environmentally damaging flaring and venting of gas associated with the extraction of crude oil.

www.worldbank.org/ggfr

Masdar

Masdar, the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, is a multi-faceted company advancing the development, commercialisation and deployment of renewable energy solutions and clean technologies.

www.masdar.ae/en