Cost, natural gas

Alcohol Production. Studies to assess the costs of alcohol fuels and to compare the costs to those of conventional fuels contain significant uncertainties. In general, the low cost estimates iadicate that methanol produced on a large scale from low cost natural gas could compete with gasoline when oil prices are around 140/L ( 27/bbl). This comparison does not give methanol any credits for environmental or energy diversification benefits. Ethanol does not become competitive until petroleum prices are much higher. 

Liquid Fuels via Methanol Synthesis and Conversion. Methanol is produced catalyticaHy from synthesis gas. By-products such as ethers, formates, and higher hydrocarbons are formed in side reactions and are found in the cmde methanol product. Whereas for many years methanol was produced from coal, after World War II low cost natural gas and light petroleum fractions replaced coal as the feedstock. 

Between 1930 and 1950, the primary emphasis of ammonia process development was ia the area of synthesis gas generation (3) (see Fuels, SYNTHETIC, GASEOUS FUELs). Extensive coal deposits ia Europe provided the feedstock for the ammonia iadustry. The North American ammonia iadustry was based primarily on abundant suppHes of low cost natural gas (see Gas, natural). 

Fuels. Two-thirds of the fuel used by the United States chemical industry in 1988 was natural gas [8006-14-2] which is clean and easy to combust (see Gas, natural). Although relatively inexpensive at the wellhead, natural gas is cosdy to transport. Hence the chemical industry is concentrated in regions where natural gas is produced, keeping the average price paid by the U.S. chemical industry for natural gas in 1988 to only 80% of the average U.S. industrial price (1). Similarly the movement of chemical commodity production to the Middle East is driven by the desire to obtain low cost natural gas. 

The major advantage of Fischer Tropsch diesel, compared to natural gas, lies in its liquid nature. It does not need special infrastructure and compression like CNG does, and unlike LNG, once converted, it is a liquid fuel that can be treated like any other liquid fuel. However, because the GTL process is more complex than traditional refining, it requires low-cost natural gas priced at less than 1 per million BTUs to remain cost-competitive. Without stranded gas, sources sold at a large discount compared to crude oil, GTL diesel would be considerably more expensive than traditionally refined diesel fuel. 

Many further solar energy developments and demonstrations took place m the first half of the twentieth century. However, only one solar technology survived the commercial competition with cheap fossil fuels. That exception was solar water heaters that were widely used in Japan, Israel, Australia and Florida, where electricity was expensive and before low-cost natural gas became available. 

If low-cost natural gas is available, a gas turbine can be used to generate power. In this case, the waste heat in the exhaust gas is used to produce steam in a heat recovery boiler (HR boiler). This approach also is used with some gas turbine plants (as in some high-speed navy vessels). Where an HR boiler is employed, if steam demand exceeds power demand, the boiler is fitted with auxiliary burners. 

After World War II, the discovery of large quantities of low-cost natural gas with heating values of about 37 MJ/m3 (1000 Btu/ft3) led to the demise of the synthetic gas manufacturing industry. 

For the economic comparison of the two storage options, the specific re-electrifi-cation costs of the stored wind energy are calculated. These costs are made up of the investment, operation and maintenance costs, input electricity costs (wind electricity) and the fuel costs (natural gas). As hydrogen technologies are not in a commercial state, the calculation is also performed with target costs for electrolysers. Carbon emissions are also monetarily included, assuming a certificate price of 20/t. Table 16.2 summarises the major economic assumptions. 

At present, methanol is (besides methane) the only chemical that can be produced with 100% selectivity from syngas, and it therefore constitutes a unique starting material for purely syngas-based industrial chemicals. This new role for methanol is also assisted by the ease of transporting it from areas where it can be cheaply produced from low-cost natural gas, coal or renewable sources such as biomass. The rising ethylene cost has given impetus to research devoted to finding routes in which ethylene can be replaced by methanol. 

The regions with the largest trade balances are the EECA (Eastern Europe and Central Asia), the Caribbean Sea and Central America (Primarily Trinidad) and the Middle East (see Figure 3.20). The large trade balances are primarily due to the large resources of low cost natural gas in these regions36. 

Drivers for air separation feed compressors are usually electrical motors. However, both steam and gas turbines are used to utilize excess steam from downstream processes or low cost natural gas where it is available. The capital cost for a turbine drive generally precludes its use unless the steam or natural gas is available at very low cost. 

Natural Gas Steam Cycle without penalty cost Natural Gas Steam Cycle with penalty cost... 

The single reason why manufacturing is coming back to America is because fracking has unlocked so much low-cost natural gas. 

From plastics to fertilizer plants, the manufacturing boom features several projects that are only possible with low-cost natural-gas supplies. That s because natural gas is an important feedstock used by these manufacturers to create the products we need for our everyday lives [13]. 

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