Overview A synthesis gas unit capable of processing 10,000 MMSCFD of natural gas in a 330 day operational year is to be built

for a gas to liquids (GTL) plant. The synthesis gas is to be processed further using the Fischer Tropsch process to produce synthetic crude, which can then be fractionated to get petroleum products. The plant is to be sited on the coast of the barracuda sea. The sources of the gas to be produced are the BX1 and BX2 gas production platforms are situated on at the Barracuda Sea. All of the produced synthesis gas will be utilised for the production of synthetic crude, with none available for export. 1.0 Background Information Gas-to-liquids or GTL as it is popularly referred to, is the process by which a small number of technologies are combined and employed to convert natural gas to liquid fuels. It is quite different from the traditional approaches employed for refining of crude oil and natural gas in order to make them ready for use on a commercial scale. GTL th first made its debut in the 20 century when it was developed by German Scientist Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch. It was widely used in the Second World War to make synthetic fuel available for fuelling vehicles. GTL provides a means of producing diesel with high level of purity, Naphtha, LPG and some lubes and waxes. This makes it a very good source of liquid fuel for the transportation industry as well as a source of feedstock for chemical industries. Below is the percentage by composition of components of a typical output from a GTL process Diesel - 70% Naphtha - 25% LPG, lubes and waxes 5% Development of GTL processes within the last two decades has been very promising. Up to fourteen commercial scale GTL plants have come online and are fully operational. The main factors that have led to the growing interest in developing the GTL could be: Politics and economics: Crude oil availability / price, exploitation of gas reserves against constrained markets all play a part in favouring the investment in GTL technology. Environmental Friendliness: The increasing pressures from legislations all over the world for lighter, cleaner fuels, together with the non-flaring policy for associated gases are also factors that encourage investment in GTL. Natural gas, which is the main feed stock used for GTL is comprised primarily of Methane which inherently burns cleaner with a lower level of pollutants than other sources of carbon based fuels. The ratio of heat produced from burning natural gas to the amount of CO produced is larger than those for other fossil fuels (45% less CO than coal for a
2 2

similar quantity of heat), and also emits a lot less NOx and SOx. Increasing demand for diesel fuel in the transportation industry: The transportation sector is one of the largest users of diesel fuel around the world. The rate of growth of the transport sector is faster in regions like Europe and Asia, which depend heavily on imported crude for their source of diesel, than it is in other parts of the world. Unfortunately, world politics and other circumstances such as conflicts and OPEC, contribute to the uncertainty or instability of the supply of crude as well as its price. This has encouraged the rapid development of GTL for an alternative or rather a complementary source of diesel. Also, the fact that existing diesel engines can use GTL diesel without being altered or modified in anyway makes it advantageous over alternative fuels like CNG and LNG.

A typical GTL process consists of the following stages: Natural gas treatment (Purification) Synthesis gas Production (Reforming of Natural gas into hydrogen and carbon monoxide) Production of Synthetic crude via Fischer-Tropsch conversion Upgrading / Fractionation of the Synthetic crude to produce finished products

This project is concerned with the synthesis gas production unit. As mentioned earlier, there are two sources of gas to the GTL plant; the BX1 and BX2 platforms. The gases from the two sources have been combined and pre treated and is ready for synthesis gas production. The available methods for producing synthesis gas are: (a) Steam methane reforming of methane (b) Auto thermal reforming of methane (c) Partial oxidation of methane The second technique is the most widely used as it is more energy efficient. 1.1 Properties and Uses of synthesis gas The methane content of Natural gas is literally broken into carbon and hydrogen ions in the presence of a catalyst. The carbon ions combine with oxygen to form carbon monoxide CO and the hydrogen ions combine to form hydrogen molecules H2. Some carbon dioxide CO2 is also formed during this process. Hence synthesis gas is essentially a mixture of hydrogen gas, carbon monoxide gas, and carbon dioxide gas (very little present). The gas is colourless and odourless, lighter than air, and forms an explosive mixture when mixed with air. In addition to using Synthesis gas to directly manufacture synthetic crude, each individual component of Synthesis gas can be isolated and/or purified for other uses or disposal: Hydrogen electricity generation and transportation fuels Nitrogen fertilizers, pressurizing agents Ammonia fertilizers Carbon monoxide chemical industry feedstock and fuels Carbon dioxide injected into sequestration wells Steam turbine drivers for electricity generation

1.2 Various processes for producing Nitric Acid Partial oxidation Reforming (POX) This method of producing Synthesis gas involves a direct reaction between oxygen and the hydrocarbon gas without employing any catalyst or steam. 2CH + O = 2CO + 4H
4 2 2

The reaction takes place at a very high temperature of about 1400 C and pure oxygen is needed. Synthesis gas produced using this method has a H 2/CO ratio of between 1.8 -1.9, a figure slightly less than 2 which is the optimum ratio required by the Fischer-Tropsch process for converting the Synthesis gas to synthetic crude. Because the process requires pure oxygen a separate air purification/oxygen plant is required which costs extra and makes the process more expensive than the others. Steam-Methane Reforming (SMR) This is the most widely used of all the methods for Synthesis gas production. The natural gas feed gas is mixed with steam and the mixture passed over a catalyst in a reactor. CH +H O = 3H + CO
4 2 2

H = 2.1 x10e J/gmole

R

CO + H O = CO + H
2 2

R = -4.2

x10e J/gmole

The reaction is endothermic and thus requires a large quantity of heat. The heat required for the reaction is obtained by combusting some Natural gas from the feed gas. Catalysts could either be Nickel supported or Iron Supported catalyst. Different techniques are employed in supplying the heat to the reactants, depending on the reactor design. The H2/CO ratio of the Synthesis gas produced is greater than 5. This ratio is much greater than the optimum ratio required by the Fischer-Tropsch process for converting the Synthesis gas to synthetic crude. This technique does have an advantage over POX however in the sense that it does not require oxygen for the reaction apart from the one supplied to the reactor burner, thus the need for an air purification or oxygen plant is eliminated. Auto-thermal Reforming (ATR) This is more of a hybrid process. The two processes POX and SMR are combined. Natural gas is reformed in the presence of steam and oxygen. 2CH + H O + 1/2 O = 5 H + 2 CO
4 2 2 2

The reaction is catalytic. As the name auto-thermal implies, the reaction requires no external source of heat. The heat produced from the partial oxidation step is used to fuel the steam reforming step of the process. The H 2/CO ratio of the Synthesis gas produced is optimum for the Synthetic crude production stage. The downside to this technique is that an air separation plant is needed for the POX step. Table 1.0 below gives a list of developers of methane reforming plants that employ the various techniques described above. Every one of the techniques described above has its own pros and cons, but ultimately the choice of what technique to use depends largely on the economics aspect i.e. cost of operation, efficiency in energy utilization and cost of energy, initial capital costs etc. Synthesis gas generation dictates about two thirds of total energy usage and more than half of capital investment

Table 1.0: Developers/ licensors of various Methane reforming techniques DEVELOPERS/ LICENSORS -Haldor Topsoe AS -Foster Wheeler Corp -Lurgi AG -International BV -Kinetics Technology -Uhde GmbH Texaco Inc. -Royal Dutch/Shell. NATURAL GAS REFORMING TECHNIQUE Steam reforming and Auto-thermal reforming Steam Reforming Steam Reforming and Auto-thermal reforming Steam Reforming Steam Reforming Steam Reforming Partial Oxidation Partial Oxidation