Gas2 Announces Breakthrough Gas-To-Liquids (GTL) Technology Success
Scottish gas reforming company Gas2 has reached a significant milestone in the development of the next generation of natural gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology which has the potential to open up remote gas as well as shale and unconventional reserves.
The Aberdeen-based company has successfully completed an extended test period of its proprietary gas reforming ‘syngas’ (synthesis gas – a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) reactor at its £5 million GTL pilot plant at the Wilton Research Centre in Teesside, UK during which the predicted conversion of methane to syngas was achieved.
The 1bbl/day plant has been designed to convert methane or natural gas to syngas using Gas2’s patented catalytic partial oxidisation process. The produced syngas is then used as a feedstock for Gas2’s Fischer Tropsch (FT) liquids unit. This is a cheaper, more productive and environmentally friendly way of converting natural gas to liquid hydrocarbons than the current generation of processes. Gas2 has developed a catalytic ceramic based semi permeable membrane that is common to both reactor cores.
This extended test run paves the way for the next stage of the technology scale-up programme which is to demonstrate production of FT liquids using feedstock from the syngas unit. Further testing of the syngas reactor over a range of operating conditions and with different membrane designs is also underway.
Mike Fleming, co-founder and managing director of Gas2 said: “We are very pleased with the test results which prove the commercial potential of the syngas reactor. They further increase our confidence that we are developing a technology which will offer significant economic and environmental advantages and higher conversion rates than existing modular GTL systems. This brings us a major step closer to market.
“The tests confirm our belief that catalytic partial oxidisation of natural gas to synthesis gas based on porous ceramic membrane core technology is the right way forward for small-scale, highly-efficient GTL reformers,” added Mr Fleming.
Applications for the Gas2 GTL technology include:
– stranded gas: transforming the economic viability of smaller, more remote gas reserves as well as shale and unconventional reservoirs;
– offshore ‘associated’ gas: offering a gas disposal solution for unwanted gas thereby preventing flaring and enabling the development of remote oilfields where flaring is prohibited and /or where gas reinjection wells are expensive or detrimental to reservoir performance;
– gas conversion to alternative end products including gasoline, diesel, waxes, ammonia, methanol, hydrogen and ethylene for industrial use.
