Syntroleum completes new GTL plant to fuel government vehicles

Tulsa-based Syntroleum has completed a new gas-to-liquids (GTL) demonstration plant at Port of Catoosa, near Tulsa, that will provide synfuels for a long-term testing and demonstration project using government vehicle fleets such as metropolitan buses in Washington, DC, and National Park Service vehicles.
The US Department of Energy funded $ 11.5 mm of the $ 52 mm plant construction costs, with the balance funded jointly by Syntroleum, which owns a proprietary GTL process for converting natural gas into synthetic liquid hydrocarbons, and Marathon Oil, which said it is interested in evaluating "new options for future oil and gas developments that could integrate GTL technology."

The plant, which will go on line in early November to produce about 70 bpd of synthetic fuels, consists of three primary components -- an autothermal reformer to reform natural gas feed into synthesis gas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide), a Fischer-Tropsch unit that converts the synthesis gas into synthetic crude oil, and a refining unit that upgrades the synthetic crude to finished synthetic diesel.
The plant was designed and constructed under a federal ultraclean fuels program managed by DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory to pioneer a new generation of clean transportation fuels to reduce tailpipe emissions from cars, trucks, and other heavy vehicles.

DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen are participating in the project's demonstration of engines and emission control systems matched and calibrated specifically for the synthetic fuel.
The program will produce synthetic diesel for a series of test programs, initially in diesel fleets, but the Departments of Defence and Transportation have indicated interest in producing fuel for military, construction, rail locomotion, and marine applications as well and possible use in jet engines and fuel cells.