No time right now to review the entire GTL field, but here's a quickie (from my perspective).
There are several versions of the Fischer-Tropsch process, with varying catalysts.
Most use a cobalt-based catalyst which apparently is more efficient for use with "stranded" gases, but which can be poisoned easily by other materials in the stock (gas, cola, etc.) used to feed the process. Cobalt also poses some environmental threats.
RNTK's process uses an iron-based catalyst, which until now has been slightly less efficient at converting LNG (such as at the well head) but which stands up very well when converting the really bad stuff in refinery bottoms.
RNTK has an agreement with Texaco regarding use in refinery bottoms and has recently signed an exploratory agreement with a South American engineering corporation to explore use with stranded gases.
Beyond that, we do know that the RNTK process does work on natural gas because they built a plant for a client who wanted to convert the methane thrown off from a public dump. After RNTK built the plant, the client discovered that the flow of methane was insufficient to feed the plant. So, for a test, RNTK pumped in regular natural gas for a while to see if the plant worked properly. It did, though the additional cost of pumping in natural gas made it too expensive. That plant has been sold to a company in India, disassembled and shipped to India, and some day may be reassembled and made operational.
If, as an investor, you plan to become/remain conversant in the GTL business, I believe you should follow RNTK and SYNM (formerly SLHO) as players in this arena. (Both have threads here on SI; RNTK's has a *lot* of good background data.) There may be others.
Hope this helps.
JSb. |
