Synfuel plants

Exxon Coal Liquefaction Plant Prepared for Startup," Coal R D 3 (February 15, 1980), pp 1-2 Porter, Robert. "April Startup set for Synfuel Plant in Texas," Energy Insider 3 (February 18, 1980), pp 1, 5 3 (July 7, 1980), p 1 ... 

Porter, Robert. "Second Synfuels Plant Now Operation in Texas." Energy Insider, July 7, 1980, 3, p 1. 

Fully commercial In natural gas and refinery applications. Feed impurities In gases from synfuel plants can create problems... 

Utilization of coal and oil shale to produce liquid and gaseous synfuels results in the generation of many hazardous sub-tances. Workers in these synfuel plants are likely to be exposed to potentially carcinogenic materials present in coal tars and oils. Among the various pathways of exposure, skin contamination by direct contact transfer or by adsorption of vapors and particulates into the skin presents a serious occupational health hazard. The skin irritant and potential carcinogenic properties of raw syncrudes and their distillate fractions have been reported (1. 2, 3). 

A bypass type Claus plant, with fired preheating of acid gas and air, has been advocated by some for use in coal conversion plants, for acid gases containing 20 percent H2S or less. The authors think this an unwise choice for synfuels plants, even though it can be a good choice for other purposes. Several preheat-bypass Claus plants (of nominal capacity about 1,000 tons... 

One of the first coal gasification plants in the United States was the Great Plains Synfuels plant that is operated by Dakota Gasification in Beulah, ND. This plant consumes over 5.5 million tonnes of coal per year and produces over 54 billion standard cubic feet (1.4 billion Nm3) of natural gas, 365,000 tonnes per year of ammonia, 24 million gallons of liquid nitrogen per year (68 million kg or 150 million lb) plus several other chemicals.89 (See www.dakota.com for more details.)... 

The majority of the early carbon capture and storage projects might not involve hydrogen, but could instead involve the capture of the C02 impurities in natural gas, the capture of C02 produced at electric plants, or the capture of C02 at ammonia and synfuels plants. All of these routes to capture, however, share carbon storage as a common element, and it is carbon storage that raises the most difficult institutional issues and issues of public acceptance. 

FIGURE 6-2. Dakota Gasification Company and the Great Plains Synfuels Plant. Source Great Plains Gasification Project, 1987. 

The Synfuel plant is sited within 180 hectares of land at Motunui, Taranaki... 

The above conclusions derive from Table 2 where the net costs to the Crown are equivalent to about US 45, 18 and 14 per barrel of gasoline in the years 1987, 1996 and 2000 respectively. Adding the cost of gas raises the above figures to US 55, 25 and 20 per barrel for the years in question. Here it should be observed that under the take-or-pay contract, the Crown is required to pay for the gas independent of the operation of the Synfuel plant. Also it is important to note that the above costs are for a barrel of gasoline and must be reduced by around US 7 per barrel to obtain equivalent crude oil costs. Finally these conclusions could be affected if, in the future, the Government follows through with its stated intention to take over and refinance the Synfuel debt. 

The Synfuel plant is a longterm Investment, I.e. till at least the year 2003. Its economic benefits will depend primarily upon what happens to the price of oil over the life of the project. When the decision to proceed with Synfuel was made in February 1982 the price of oil was US 28 per barrel. In November 1985 the price fell from US 28 per barrel to reach a low in 1986 of about US 9 per barrel. Since then the price has recovered to around US 18-20 per barrel. Such rapid fluctuations make it impossible to predict with any certainty the future economic benefits from Synfuel. Certainly it is not possible to make the project look good from an economic viewpoint at the present time. However, Table 2 shows that Synfuel should produce significant benefits in the medium and long term. Also in considering benefits it must be noted that condensate worth over NZ 70 million per annum is being obtained from the gas flow for the project. 

We ve developed — and demonstrated — fixed bed and fluid bed versions of the MTG technology. The New Zealand synfuels plant uses fixed bed MTG technology. Its performance has met or exceeded all expectations with respect to product quantity, product quality, and catalyst behavior. 

The methanol route is highly selective towards production of liquid transportation fuels. Only a very small amount of hydrocarbons beyond C are produced. The process uses a zeolite catalyst, developed by Mobil Research and Development Corp. (MRDC), USA. The final gasoline produced does not need further refining a nd attains the quality of unleaded premium gasoline. The world s first commercial synfuel plant for the production of gasoline from natural gas via methanol has been constructed in New Zealand and went successfully onstream in late 1985. The capacity is 570,000 tonnes of gasoline per year. The MTG reaction system is an adiabatic fixed bed version. 

The economic viability of a large synfuel plant lies in such factors as ... 

Capture of carbon dioxide from coal gasification is already achieved at low marginal cost in some plants. One (albeit where the high capital cost has been largely written off) is the Great Plains Synfuels Plant in North Dakota, where six million tons of lignite is gasified each year to produce clean synthetic natural gas. 

At the Great Plains Synfuels Plant, North Dakota, some 13,000 tons per day of carbon dioxide gas is captured and 5,000 tons of this is piped 320 km into Canada for enhanced oil recovery. This Weyburn oilfield sequesters about 85 m of carbon dioxide per barrel of oil produced, a total of 19 million tons over the project s 20 year Ufe. The first phase of its operation has been judged a success. 

The Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah, North Dakota, operated by the Dakota Gasification Company, provides strong impetus for the use of coal in the United States—the production of synthetic liquid fuel and gaseous fuels. The plant also produces carbon dioxide, which is captured and piped 200 miles north to Saskatchewan, Canada, where it is used for enhanced oil recovery (FOR) in the Weyburn Field. An additional amount of carbon dioxide is discharged to the atmosphere. The plant also produces anhydrous ammonia and ammonium sulfate for agricultural use, as well as a variety of other minor products. 

T.G. Towers, "Current Status of Great Plains Synfuels Plant." Presented at Seventh Annual International Pittsburgh Coal Q)nference, Pittsburgh,... 

GREAT PLAINS SYNFUELS PLANT INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY IN PRACTICE TO PRODUCE ENERGY AND CHEMICALS... 

A key featme of the Great Plains Synfuel Plant is the extraction of CO2 from the synthesis gas. Since 2000, the Great Plains plant has been sending about half of the carbon dioxide that it generates by pipeline to oil fields in Saskatchewan, Canada, for enhanced oil production (see Section 17.8) at a current rate of 4.3 million cubic meters per day (2.5-3 million metric tons per year) and by... 

Great Plains Synfuels Plant, Dakota Gasification Company, http //www.dakotagas.com/, 2012. 

The South Africans have applied the Fischer-Tropsch technology in their SASOL facility. The Sasol (South African Coal, Oil and Gas Corporation) installation is the world s largest synfuel plant based on coal. It converts an inferior high-ash (35%) coal into a broad spectrum of products, which may include ethylene, propylene, butylene, gasoline, and long straight-chain alcohols and hydrocarbons. The Sasol plant has been operating for over 35 years. 

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