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Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (3683)	4/23/2001 3:39:31 PM
From: Think4Yourself	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

Gas to Liquids (GTL) converts Natural Gas to "white gasoline" a very pure and clean burning fuel. The technology has excellent applications where Natural Gas is plentiful but pipelines are impractical or not cost effective. It only recently became practical and until patents expire I don't anticipate widespread industrial use BWDIK.

To: TimF who wrote (3683)	4/23/2001 3:44:31 PM
From: gamesmistress	Respond to of 23153

GTL is gas-to-liquids, a technology that turns natgas and other feedstocks into clean (sulfur-free and aromatic-free) fuels and other products. It's viewed as a means of utilizing stranded natgas and "problem" feedstocks now going to waste. Royal Dutch/Shell, Exxon, BP, Chevron/Sasol and possibly Conoco are the big players. Syntroleum and Rentech are the only "pure" GTL plays, and even though both are working with the majors on different projects neither has really proven itself with revenues from companies licensing their technologies to produce actual products.

To: TimF who wrote (3683)	4/23/2001 3:49:25 PM
From: Aggie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23153

Tim, hello. Adding to JQP's note, there are a couple of companies which are currently using this technology, one of which is Syntroleum (I forget the other). Both use Fischer-Tropsch technology. South Africa actually has a small refinery turning this stuff out, others have been proposed in Australia, Trinidad, and Malaysia. The technology got its start with the Nazis but has never taken hold because it is expensive toi build and run. Cheap oil has been the obstacle to overcome in the past, but now expensive natural gas (the feedstock) is putting the obstacle up front. Because of the high front-end expense of natural gas infrastructure - whether it's methanol, LNG, plastics, or fertiliser (ammonia) production - I suspect it will be a long time before anyone again seriously considers GTL, unless unless in the context of a niche market for no-sulfur fuels (diesel and Jet-A), which are their specialty. Good Luck, Aggie