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Introduction

The GTL process involves three steps: 1) reforming natural gas into syngas, 2) converting the syngas into paraffins using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, and 3) hydrocracking the liquid products to produce low-sulfur gasoline, kerosene and diesel. Sasol developed GTL technology to produce fuels from coal in South Africa and is now marketing their natural gas to liquids technology. Their slurry phase distillate process produces a high-quality diesel suitable for blending with conventional diesel to meet stringent environmental standards.

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Mafanga Lolito Lee
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20 views1 page

Introduction

The GTL process involves three steps: 1) reforming natural gas into syngas, 2) converting the syngas into paraffins using Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, and 3) hydrocracking the liquid products to produce low-sulfur gasoline, kerosene and diesel. Sasol developed GTL technology to produce fuels from coal in South Africa and is now marketing their natural gas to liquids technology. Their slurry phase distillate process produces a high-quality diesel suitable for blending with conventional diesel to meet stringent environmental standards.

Uploaded by

Mafanga Lolito Lee
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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INTRODUCTION.

The GTL process is composed of three steps:


1. Reforming of natural gas to produce a synthesis gas (syngas) that has a hydrogen:carbon
monoxide ratio of approximately 2:1. The syngas step converts the natural gas to
hydrogen and carbon monoxide by partial oxidation, steam reforming or a combination
of the two processes
2. The resulting syngas is fed to the Fischer-Tropsch reactor and converted to mostly
straight-chain, waxy paraffins in the presence of a catalyst. The catalyst is either iron or
cobalt based and the reaction is highly exothermic. The temperature, pressure and
catalyst determine whether a light or heavy syncrude is produced. For example at 330C
with an iron catalyst mostly gasoline and olefins are produced whereas at 180 to 250C
with a cobalt catalyst mostly diesel and waxes are produced.
3. The high molecular weight liquid products can be hydro-cracked in a simple low-
pressure process to produce naphtha, kerosene and diesel that are virtually free of sulfur
and aromatics; These derivative fuels are therefore potentially more valuable, notably in
the US, Europe and Japan with high environmental standards.
Sasol is a synfuel technology supplier established to provide petroleum products in coal-rich but
oil-poor South Africa. The firm has built a series of Fischer-Tropsch coal-to-oil plants, and is
one of the world's most experienced synthetic fuels organizations and is now marketing its
natural-gas-to-oil technology. It has developed the world's largest synthetic fuel project, the
Mossgas complex at Mossel Bay in South Africa that was commissioned in 1993 and produces a
small volume of 25 000 barrels per day. Sasol has commercialized four reactor types with the
slurry phase distillate process being the most recent. Its products are more olefinic than those
from the fixed bed reactors and are hydrogenated to straight chain paraffins. Its Slurry Phase
Distillate converts natural gas into liquid fuels, primarily a superior-quality diesel. The resultant
diesel is suitable as a premium blending component for standard diesel grades from conventional
crude oil refineries. Blended with lower grade diesels it assists to comply with the increasingly
stringent specifications being set for transport fuels in North America and Europe.

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