Chemical feedstocks, future trends

Gas-to-liquid technology is at the same time an economically viable option for the recovery of stranded gas and an option to produce clean fuels or chemical feedstocks. Besides the financial incentive to monetise otherwise worthless gas, GTL has received added impetus in recent years, especially with regard to diesel fuel also, the trend in industrialised nations to reduce sulphur and particle contents in fuels is likely to accelerate. However, GTL competes with LNG for reserves of inexpensive, stranded natural gas further declines in LNG supply costs could undermine the attraction of GTL. The future of GTL further hinges on the reduction of... 

Major oil spills attract the attention of the public and the media. In recent years, this attention has created a global awareness of the risks of oil spills and the damage they do to the environment. However, oil is a necessity in our industrial society, and a major sustainer of our lifestyle. Most of the energy used in Canada and the United States is for transportation that runs on oil and petroleum products. According to trends in energy usage, this is not likely to decrease much in the future. Industry uses oil and petroleum derivatives to manufacture such vital products as plastics, fertilizers, and chemical feedstocks, which will still be required in the future. 

The trend in chemical feedstocks is towards less expensive, more available ones and away from the expensive, more reactive feeds. For example, the extensive use of acetylene as a feedstock in the 1930-1940 s has been replaced in the 1960-1980 s by olefins and diolefins. The future trend appears to be towards paraffins and synthesis gas (Figure 20). Continued developments in fundamental catalyst science will serve as the basis for the design of the catalytic single-step processes of the future which will efficiently utilize inexpensive, readily available feeds. 

---