(55a) Making Small-Scale Gtl a Reality

It is estimated that as much as 40% of the world’s natural gas reserves are found in stranded gas wells. These reserves are often deemed unusable because of either their remote location or the limited amount of gas available. Transporting (or piping) of the gas in these reserves to a central processing unit is highly uneconomical. However, the transport of liquid fuels is much more financially attractive.  Most commercially-available technologies for converting natural gas to liquid products (GTL) are for applications much larger than the amount of gas available in a typical stranded well. To address this problem, a novel approach, incorporating process synthesis techniques, to designing GTL plants for small-scale applications was developed. A fundamental approach was taken when looking at the process aspects of such an application, and it was shown how this can be achieved.

One should, however, take cognisance that a revision of the process engineering aspects alone will not yield an economically feasible solution. A holistic approach has to be taken to determine what the main drivers for small-scale GTL applications are, how they differ from the large-scale, and how one simplifies the process of integrating this novel technology into an existing market. An analogous explanation would be the development and implementation of the laptop (notebook) computer into an existing environment and infrastructure that is set up and adapted to mainframes. What’s more, is that multiple implementations of such plants would be rolled –out, rather than just a “once-off” application. This then begins to set up unusual interaction between the design team and numerous parties such as technology providers, manufactures, owners of gas reserves, potential end-users of the liquid products, etc., as well as a feedback system to allow for customizing the process to fit in with what is already existing.