FWIW:
SOURCE: Chrysler Corporation
Chrysler, Syntroleum Join to Develop
Sulfur-Free Fuel
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Chrysler Corporation (NYSE: C - news) and Syntroleum Corporation (Nasdaq: SYNM - news), a Tulsa, Oklahoma energy technology company, announced an agreement to develop designer fuels derived from natural gas that will be sulfur-free,
affordable and potentially cleaner than any viable transportation fuels currently available.
The announcement was made today at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International Fall Fuels and Lubricants Meeting in San Francisco.
Fuels designed from Syntroleum's patented natural gas-to-liquids process would be able to run in today's vehicles without modification and be ideally suited for future technologies such as advanced,
clean-burning diesel engines, fuel cells and hybrid electric vehicles.
The technology has the potential to significantly enlarge the world's readily available fuel supply. Oil and gas companies could economically convert huge untapped reserves of so-called ''stranded'' natural gas--which are currently flared, or burned off--into much more widely applicable, and therefore marketable, liquid fuels. The designer fuels could be distributed through the existing infrastructure, so drivers could continue to fill up at service stations just as they do today. Syntroleum estimates new
designer fuels could sell for less than $1.50 per gallon.
''We believe that designer fuels from natural gas could quickly become the most viable alternative fuel on the market,'' said Mark Agee, Syntroleum president and chief operating officer. Industry estimates
suggest there is enough stranded gas to make 250 billion barrels of synthetic oil -- increasing known oil reserves by 25 percent, which is a conservative estimate according to Agee. Syntroleum licensees
have begun numerous feasibility studies on making synthetic fuels from stranded gas and Agee expects plants to begin producing synthetic fuels in the next few years.
The Syntroluem process has been licensed to Texaco, Inc. of White Plains, New York, ARCO of Los Angeles, Marathon Oil Co. of Houston, Kerr-McGee Corporation of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,
ENRON Corp. of Houston and YPF S.A. of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
''Developing cleaner fuels is just as important as developing the cleaner technologies Chrysler has been working on for some time -- technologies such as fuel cells, hybrids and advanced compression ignition direct injection engines,'' said Bernard Robertson, Chrysler's Vice President - Engineering Technologies and General Manager - Truck Operations. ''Hopefully, this action will stimulate further development of cleaner fuels. This could be very significant for both the auto and oil industries.''
Currently, enough natural gas is being flared -- wasting natural resources -- to make an estimated one million barrels per day of synthetic fuels, Agee said. That makes up approximately seven percent of the daily volume of transportation fuel consumed in the United States today.
The agreement calls for Chrysler to test several fuel formulations made by Syntroleum on various engines to determine the optimum physical and chemical characteristics for each fuel. Researchers will
determine the best density, lubricity, viscosity and volatility levels for the new fuels. The agreement also allows for joint testing of lubricants and automatic transmission fluids made with the Syntroleum
process.
Unlike conventional petroleum-based fuels, Syntroleum's fuel contains no aromatic organic molecules -- chemicals that form soot, toxics and hydrocarbon emissions. The sulfur-free fuel allows for the use of
catalysts that can reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulates. The technology can also produce high-cetane fuels, up to 75 cetane, well above the 42 cetane rating in the diesel fuel widely available in
the United States. Cetane is a measurement of a fuel's tendency to ignite.
This lack of sulfur, aromatics and high cetane rating will allow engines to be optimized for peak fuel efficiency, minimal emissions and quiet, smooth- running engines.
''First, the new fuels could curtail the custom of flaring, or burning off natural gas in oil fields, a practice that wastes valuable resources and generates copious quantities of carbon dioxide,'' Robertson said. ''Secondly, these fuels have higher hydrogen-to-carbon ratios than most conventional fuels, which means less carbon dioxide when they're burned. Plus, they would enable the development of high fuel efficiency powertrains while meeting increasingly stringent exhaust emission requirements.''
The Syntroleum process is based on the Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels process invented in Germany in 1923. Fischer-Tropsch chemistry was used successfully by Germany in the 1940s and by South
Africa for several decades during oil embargoes. In both cases, liquid fuel was produced from coal. High production costs have slowed commercialization of the process and limited the use of synthetic
fuels.
In the Syntroleum process, natural gas is mixed with air and catalytically reacted to form synthesis gas,
a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The synthesis gas is then reacted with a proprietary catalyst in a Fischer-Tropsch reactor, which results in a stream of middle-distillate hydrocarbon liquids
that can be further refined into designer fuels and conventional fuels.
Other Fischer-Tropsch based systems require the use of pure oxygen in their process designs. Syntroleum uses air to generate oxygen, eliminating the need for costly and complicated cryogenic air
separation plants to generate oxygen. Cryogenics is a process of chilling gas to minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Syntroleum licenses its proprietary process for converting natural gas into synthetic crude oil and transportation fuels. The process is designed to be applied in plants producing 2,000 barrels per day to
more than 100,000 barrels per day. Current licenses include YPF, Texaco, ARCO, Kerr-McGee,
Marathon and ENRON.
SOURCE: Chrysler Corporation
|
