Production of synthetic motor fuels using the Fischer-Tropsch method. Fischer-Tropsch process

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

The technology for producing synthetic fuel from hydrocarbon gas GTL (gas-to-liquid, i.e. “gas-to-liquid”) began to develop in the 20s of the last century thanks to the invention of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction. At that time, in coal-rich but oil-poor Germany, the issue of liquid fuel production was acute. Since the invention of the process by German researchers Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, many improvements and revisions have been made, and the name "Fischer-Tropsch" is now applied to a large number of similar processes. GTL technology, as such, is almost a hundred years old, and it has been developing for many years as a forced alternative to oil production for countries without access to oil. The development of GTL proceeded in stages, over generations. The first generation of GTL is responsible for the German ersatz gasoline that was widely known during the Great Patriotic War. The second developed in South Africa as a response to the international embargo. Third - in Western countries after the energy crisis of 1973. With each new generation of technology, capital costs decreased, the yield of motor fuel per ton of raw materials increased, and by-products became less and less.

The development of technology for processing natural gas into synthetic oil is especially important for Russia for several reasons. Firstly, due to the presence of large gas deposits in Siberia. The technology makes it possible to process gas directly on site and use existing oil pipelines for transportation, which is more economically profitable. Secondly, GTL makes it possible to utilize associated gases from oil fields, as well as refinery blow-off gases, which are usually burned “on a candle”. Thirdly, motor fuels obtained using this technology are superior to petroleum analogues in terms of operational and environmental indicators.

The Fischer-Tropsch method for converting methane into heavier hydrocarbons was developed in 1923 and implemented in German industry in the 1940s.

Almost all aviation fuel in this country during the Second World War was produced using the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis from coal. Subsequently, this method of producing motor fuels was abandoned, since fuel obtained from oil refining was, until recently, more economically profitable.

When producing liquid fuel based on the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, various carbon compounds (natural gas, coal and brown coal, heavy oil fractions, wood waste) are converted into synthesis gas (a mixture of CO and H2), and then it is converted into synthetic “crude oil” " - synthetic oil. This is a mixture of hydrocarbons, which, during subsequent processing, is divided into various types of practically environmentally friendly fuel, free from impurities of sulfur and nitrogen compounds. It is enough to add 10% artificial fuel to regular diesel fuel so that the combustion products of diesel fuel begin to comply with environmental standards.

Gas conversion into expensive fine organic synthesis products seems to be even more effective.

The conversion of gas into motor fuel can be generally thought of as the conversion of methane into heavier hydrocarbons:

2nСН4 + 1/2nО2 = Сn Н2n + nН2 О

From the material balance of the gross reaction it follows that the mass yield of the final product cannot exceed 89%.

The reaction is not directly feasible. The conversion of gas into liquid fuel (CLF) goes through a number of technological stages (Fig. 17). In this case, depending on the final product that needs to be obtained, one or another process option is selected.

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis can be considered as a reductive oligomerization reaction of carbon monoxide in which carbon-carbon bonds are formed, and in general it is a complex combination of a number of heterogeneous reactions that can be represented by the summary equations:

nCO + 2nH2 > (CH2)n + nH2 O,

2nCO + nH2 > (CH2)n + nCO2 .

Rice. 17.

The reaction products are alkanes, alkenes and oxygen-containing compounds, that is, a complex mixture of products is formed, characteristic of a polymerization reaction. The primary products of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis are a- and b-olefins, which are converted to alkanes as a result of subsequent hydrogenation. The nature of the catalyst used, temperature, and the ratio of CO and H2 significantly affect the distribution of products. Thus, when using iron catalysts, the proportion of olefins is high, while in the case of cobalt catalysts, which have hydrogenating activity, saturated hydrocarbons are predominantly formed.

Currently, as catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, depending on the objectives (increasing the yield of gasoline fraction, increasing the yield of lower olefins, etc.), both highly dispersed iron catalysts supported on oxides of aluminum, silicon and magnesium, and bimetallic catalysts: iron - manganese, iron-molybdenum, etc.

In the 70 years since the discovery of the synthesis, controversy over the reaction mechanism has not subsided. Three different mechanisms are currently being considered. The first mechanism, called the carbide mechanism, first proposed by Fischer and Tropsch and later supported by other researchers, involves the formation of C-C bonds as a result of the oligomerization of methylene fragments on the surface of the catalyst. At the first stage, CO is adsorbed and surface carbide is formed, and oxygen is converted into water or CO2:

At the second stage, the surface carbide is hydrogenated with the formation of CHx fragments (x = 1-3):

Chain elongation occurs as a result of the reaction of surface methyl and methylene, and then the chain grows through the introduction of methylene groups:

The chain termination stage occurs as a result of desorption of the alkene from the catalyst surface.

The second mechanism, called hydroxycarbene, also involves the hydrogenation of CO coordinated on the metal with the formation of surface hydroxycarbene fragments, as a result of the condensation of which the formation of C-C bonds occurs:

The third mechanism, which can be called the insertion mechanism, involves the formation of C-C bonds as a result of the introduction of CO into the metal-carbon bond (the ability of CO to insert into the metal-alkyl bond was discussed above):

Quite a wealth of experimental material has been accumulated, indicating in favor of one or another version of the mechanism, but it must be stated that at the present time it is impossible to make a clear choice between them. It can be assumed that due to the great importance of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, research in this direction will continue intensively and we will witness new views on the mechanisms of ongoing reactions.

Receipt process

The Fischer–Tropsch process is described by the following chemical equation

CO + 2 H 2 ----> --CH 2 -- + H 2 O

2 CO + H 2 ----> --CH 2 -- + CO 2 . The mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen is called synthesis gas or syngas. The resulting hydrocarbons are purified to obtain the target product - synthetic oil.

After the war, captured German scientists participated in Operation Paperclip while continuing to work on synthetic fuels in the United States at the United States Bureau of Mines.

For the first time, the synthesis of hydrocarbons from a mixture of CO and H 2 was carried out at the beginning of the 20th century: methane was synthesized by Sabatier and Sanderens, ethylene was synthesized by E.I. Orlov. In 1913, BASF took out a patent for the production of mixtures of hydrocarbons and alcohols from synthesis gas over alkalized Co-Os catalysts (later this direction resulted in the creation of a process for the synthesis of methanol). In 1923, German chemists F. Fischer and G. Tropsch, employees of the Ruhrchemie company, reported the production of oxygen-containing products from synthesis gas over Fe catalysts, and in 1926 - hydrocarbons. The first industrial reactor was launched in Germany in 1935, using a Co-Th precipitated catalyst. In the 1930-40s, based on the Fischer-Tropsch technology, the production of synthetic gasoline (Kogazin-I, or syntin) with an octane number of 40-55, synthetic high-quality diesel fraction (Kogazin-II) with a cetane number of 75-100 and solid paraffin The raw material for the process was coal, from which synthesis gas was obtained through gasification, and from it hydrocarbons. By 1945, there were 15 Fischer-Tropsch synthesis plants in the world (in Germany, the USA, China and Japan) with a total capacity of about 1 million tons of hydrocarbons per year. They produced mainly synthetic motor fuels and lubricating oils.

In the years after the Second World War, the synthesis of PT was given great attention throughout the world, since it was believed that oil reserves were coming to an end and a replacement had to be found. In 1950, a plant was launched in Brownsville (Texas) with a capacity of 360 thousand tons/year. In 1955, the South African company Sasol built its own production facility, which still exists and develops today. Since 1952, a plant with a capacity of about 50 thousand tons/year has been operating in Novocherkassk, using equipment exported from Germany. The raw material was first coal from the Donetsk basin, and then natural gas. The German Co-Th catalyst was eventually replaced by the original Co-Zr. The plant was equipped with a precision distillation column so that the plant's product range included high purity individual hydrocarbons, including odd carbon number α-olefins. The installation operated at the Novocherkassk Synthetic Products Plant until the 1990s and was stopped for economic reasons.

All these enterprises largely borrowed the experience of German chemists and engineers accumulated in the 30s and 40s.

The discovery of vast oil deposits in Arabia, the North Sea, Nigeria, and Alaska sharply reduced interest in the synthesis of FT. Almost all existing factories were closed, the only large production remaining in South Africa. Activity in this area resumed by the 1990s.

In 1990, Exxon launched an 8 thousand t/y pilot plant with a Co catalyst. In 1992, the South African company Mossgas built a plant with a capacity of 900 thousand tons per year. Unlike Sasol technology, natural gas from an offshore field was used as a raw material. In 1993, Shell launched a plant in Bintulu (Malaysia) with a capacity of 500 thousand tons per year, using a Co-Zr catalyst and original “middle distillate” technology. The raw material is synthesis gas obtained by partial oxidation of local natural gas. Shell is currently building a plant using the same technology, but with an order of magnitude greater capacity, in Qatar. Chevron, Conoco, ENI, Statoil, Rentech, Syntroleum and others also have their own projects in the field of PT synthesis of varying degrees of development.

Scientific basis of the process

The synthesis of FT can be considered as a reductive oligomerization of carbon monoxide:

nCO + (2n+1)H 2 → C n H 2n+2 + nH 2 O

nCO + 2nH 2 → C n H 2n + nH 2 O

The thermal effect is significant, 165 kJ/mol CO.

Group VIII metals serve as catalysts: Ru is the most active, then Co, Fe, Ni. To increase the surface, they are often applied to porous supports, such as silica gel and alumina. Only Fe and Co have found application in industry. Ruthenium is too expensive, and its reserves on Earth are too small to be used as a catalyst in large-scale processes. On nickel catalysts at atmospheric pressure, mainly methane is formed (n=1), but with increasing pressure, nickel forms volatile carbonyl and is washed out of the reactor.

Side reactions of the synthesis of hydrocarbons from CO and H 2 are:

  • hydrogenation of carbon monoxide to methane: CO + 3H 2 → CH 4 + H 2 O + 214 kJ/mol
  • Bell-Boudoir reaction (disproportionation of CO): 2CO → CO 2 + C
  • equilibrium of water gas: CO + H 2 O ↔ CO 2 + H 2

The last reaction is of particular importance for iron-based catalysts; it hardly occurs on cobalt. On iron catalysts, in addition, oxygen-containing compounds - alcohols and carboxylic acids - are formed in significant quantities.

Typical process conditions are: pressure from 1 atm (for Co catalysts) to 30 atm, temperature 190-240 °C (low temperature option, for Co and Fe catalysts) or 320-350 °C (high temperature option, for Fe).

The mechanism of the reaction, despite decades of study, remains unclear in detail. However, this situation is typical for heterogeneous catalysis.

Thermodynamic laws for FT synthesis products are as follows:

  1. It is possible to form hydrocarbons of any molecular weight, type and structure from CO and H2 except acetylene.
  2. The probability of hydrocarbon formation decreases in the order: methane > other alkanes > alkenes. The probability of forming normal alkanes decreases and normal alkenes increases with increasing chain length.
  3. An increase in the total pressure in the system promotes the formation of heavier products, and an increase in the partial pressure of hydrogen in the synthesis gas favors the formation of alkanes.

The actual composition of the products of hydrocarbon synthesis from CO and H 2 differs significantly from the equilibrium one. In most cases, the distribution of products by molecular weight under stationary conditions is described by the formula p(n) = n(1-α)²α n-1, where p(n) is the mass fraction of hydrocarbon with carbon number n, α = k 1 /(k 1 +k 2), k 1, k 2 - rate constants for chain growth and termination, respectively. This is the so-called Anderson–Schultz–Flory distribution (ASF distribution). Methane (n=1) is always present in greater quantities than predicted by the ASF distribution, since it is formed independently by direct hydrogenation. The value of α decreases with increasing temperature and, as a rule, increases with increasing pressure. If the reaction produces products of different homologous series (paraffins, olefins, alcohols), then the distribution for each of them may have its own α value. The distribution of ASF imposes restrictions on the maximum selectivity for any hydrocarbon or narrow fraction. This is the second, after heat removal, problem of FT synthesis.

Usage

Currently, two companies are commercializing their technologies based on the Fischer–Tropsch process. Shell in Bintulu, Malaysia, uses natural gas as a feedstock and produces predominantly low sulfur diesel fuel. Sasol in South Africa uses coal as a feedstock to produce a variety of commercial synthetic petroleum products. The process is still used today in South Africa to produce most of the country's diesel from coal by Sasol. The process was used in South Africa to meet energy needs during isolation under the apartheid regime. Attention to this process has renewed in the search for ways to produce low-sulfur diesel fuels to reduce the environmental damage caused by diesel engines. A small US company, Rentech, is currently focused on converting nitrogen fertilizer plants from using natural gas as feedstock to using coal or coke and liquid hydrocarbons as a by-product.

In September 2005, Governor Edward Rendell announced the creation of Waste Management and Processors Inc. - using technologies licensed from Shell and Sasol. A plant using Fischer–Tropsch synthesis to convert so-called waste carbon (residues from coal mining) into low-sulfur diesel fuel will be built at a site near Mahanoy in northwest Philadelphia. The state of Pennsylvania has committed to buying a significant percentage of the plant's output and, along with the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), has offered more than $140 million in tax incentives. Other coal-producing states are also developing similar plans. Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer has proposed building a plant that would use the Fischer-Tropsch process to convert the state's coal reserves into fuel to reduce the US's dependence on imported oil.

At the beginning of 2006, projects for the construction of 9 indirect coal liquefaction plants with a total capacity of 90–250 thousand barrels per day were considered in the United States.

China plans to invest $15 billion by 2010-2015. in the construction of plants for the production of synthetic fuel from coal. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that the total capacity of coal liquefaction plants will reach 16 million tons of synthetic fuel per year, which is 5% of oil consumption in 2005 and 10% of oil imports.

Technologies for processing coal into liquid fuel raise many questions from environmentalists. The most serious problem is carbon dioxide emissions. Recent work from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has shown that full-cycle greenhouse gas emissions for coal-derived synthetic fuels are about twice as high as their gasoline-based equivalents. Emissions of other pollutants have also increased greatly, although many of them can be collected during production processes. Carbon burial has been proposed as a way to reduce carbon monoxide emissions. Upload CO 2 into oil reservoirs will increase oil production and increase the service life of fields by 20-25 years, however, the use of this technology is possible only with stable oil prices above 50-55 dollars per barrel. An important problem in the production of synthetic fuels is the high water consumption, the level of which is from 5 to 7 gallons for every gallon of fuel produced.

From solid hydrocarbons (usually coal):

C + H 2 O → C O + H 2 (\displaystyle (\mathsf (C+H_(2)O\rightarrow CO+H_(2))))

To do this, superheated water vapor was blown through a layer of hot coal. The product was so-called water gas - a mixture of carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide) and hydrogen. The Fischer-Tropsch process is further described by the following chemical equation:

C O + 2 H 2 → - C H 2 - + H 2 O (\displaystyle (\mathsf (CO+2H_(2)\rightarrow (\text(-))CH_(2)(\text(-))+H_( 2)O))) 2 C O + H 2 → - C H 2 - + C O 2 (\displaystyle (\mathsf (2CO+H_(2)\rightarrow (\text(-))CH_(2)(\text(-))+CO_(2 ))))

The mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen is called synthesis gas, or syngas, and the term "water gas" is also used.

The mixture of resulting hydrocarbons is purified to obtain the target product - synthetic gasoline. The production of heavier fuels by the Fischer-Tropsch method is not economically profitable due to the rapid poisoning of the catalyst.

After the war, captured German scientists participated in Operation Paperclip, continuing to work on synthetic fuels for the United States Bureau of Mines.

For the first time, the synthesis of hydrocarbons from a mixture of CO and H 2 was carried out at the beginning of the 20th century: methane was synthesized by Sabatier and Sanderens, ethylene was synthesized by E.I. Orlov. In 1913 the company BASF acquired a patent for the production of mixtures of hydrocarbons and alcohols from synthesis gas over alkalized Co-Os catalysts (later this direction resulted in the creation of a process for the synthesis of methanol). In 1923, German chemists F. Fischer and H. Tropsch, employees of the company Ruhrchemie, reported the production of oxygen-containing products from synthesis gas over Fe catalysts, and in 1926 - hydrocarbons. The first industrial reactor was launched in Germany in 1935, using a Co-Th precipitated catalyst. In the 30s and 40s. Based on Fischer-Tropsch technology, the production of synthetic gasoline (Kogazin-I, or syntin) with an octane number of 40–55, a synthetic high-quality diesel fraction (Kogazin-II) with a cetane number of 75–100, and solid paraffin was established. The raw material for the process was coal, from which synthesis gas was obtained through gasification, and from it hydrocarbons. By 1945, there were 15 Fischer-Tropsch synthesis plants in the world (in Germany, the USA, China and Japan) with a total capacity of about 1 million tons of hydrocarbons per year. They produced mainly synthetic motor fuels and lubricating oils.

In the years after World War II, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis received a lot of attention around the world because it was believed that oil reserves were running out and a replacement needed to be found. In 1950, a plant was launched in Brownsville (Texas) with a capacity of 360 thousand tons/year. In 1955, a South African company Sasol built its own production, which still exists and develops today. Since 1952, a plant with a capacity of about 50 thousand tons/year has been operating in Novocherkassk, using equipment exported from Germany. The raw material was first coal from the Donetsk basin, and then natural gas. The German Co-Th catalyst was eventually replaced by the original Co-Zr. The plant was equipped with a precision distillation column so that the plant's product range included individual hydrocarbons of high purity, including odd carbon number α-olefins. The installation operated at the Novocherkassk Synthetic Products Plant until the 90s. twentieth century and was stopped for economic reasons.

All these enterprises largely borrowed the experience of German chemists and engineers accumulated in the 30s and 40s.

The discovery of vast oil deposits in Arabia, the North Sea, Nigeria, and Alaska sharply reduced interest in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Almost all existing factories were closed, the only large production remaining in South Africa. Activity in this area resumed by the 1990s.

In 1990 the company Exxon launched a pilot plant for 8 thousand tons/year with a Co catalyst. In 1992, a South African company Mossgas built a plant with a capacity of 900 thousand tons/year. Unlike technology Sasol, natural gas from an offshore field was used as a raw material. In 1993 the company Shell launched a plant in Bintulu (Malaysia) with a capacity of 500 thousand tons/year, using a Co-Zr catalyst and original “middle distillate” technology. The raw material is synthesis gas obtained by partial oxidation of local natural gas. Currently Shell is building a plant using the same technology, but with an order of magnitude greater capacity in Qatar. Companies also have their own projects in the field of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of varying degrees of development Chevron, Conoco, , ENI , Statoil, Rentech, Syntroleum and etc.

Scientific basis of the process

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis can be thought of as a reductive oligomerization of carbon monoxide:

n C O + (2 n + 1) H 2 → C n H 2 n + 2 + n H 2 O (\displaystyle (\mathsf (nCO+(2n+1)H_(2)\rightarrow C_(n)H_(2n +2)+nH_(2)O))) n C O + 2 n H 2 → C n H 2 n + n H 2 O (\displaystyle (\mathsf (nCO+2nH_(2)\rightarrow C_(n)H_(2n)+nH_(2)O)))

Typical process conditions are: pressure from 1 atm (for Co catalysts) to 30 atm, temperature 190–240 °C (low-temperature synthesis option, for Co and Fe catalysts) or 320–350 °C (high-temperature option, for Fe).

The mechanism of the reaction, despite decades of study, remains unclear in detail. However, this poor knowledge of reactions is typical for heterogeneous catalysis.

Thermodynamic laws for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis products are as follows.

  1. It is possible to form hydrocarbons of any molecular weight, type and structure from CO and H 2 except acetylene, the formation of which is energetically unfavorable.
  2. The probability of hydrocarbon formation decreases in the order: methane > other alkanes > alkenes. The probability of forming normal alkanes decreases and normal alkenes increases with increasing chain length.
  3. An increase in the total pressure in the system promotes the formation of heavier products, and an increase in the partial pressure of hydrogen in the synthesis gas favors the formation of alkanes.

The actual composition of the products of hydrocarbon synthesis from CO and H 2 differs significantly from the equilibrium one. In most cases, the distribution of products by molecular weight under stationary conditions is described by the formula p(n) = n(1-α)²α n-1, where p(n) is the mass fraction of hydrocarbon with carbon number n, α = k 1 /(k 1 +k 2), k 1, k 2 - rate constants for chain growth and termination, respectively. This is the so-called Anderson-Schultz-Flory distribution (ASF distribution). Methane (n=1) is always present in greater quantities than predicted by the ASF distribution, since it is formed independently by direct hydrogenation. The value of α decreases with increasing temperature and, as a rule, increases with increasing pressure. If the reaction produces products of different homologous series (paraffins, olefins, alcohols), then the distribution for each of them may have its own α value. The distribution of ASF imposes restrictions on the maximum selectivity for any hydrocarbon or narrow fraction. This is the second problem after the problem of reaction heat removal in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.

Syntheses based on carbon monoxide and hydrogen

Process Catalyst Catalyst carrier Temperature, °C Pressure, MPa Product
Methane synthesis Ni ThO 2 or MgO 250౼500 0,1 Methane
Synthesis of higher hydrocarbons Co,Ni ThO 2 , MgO, ZrO 2 150౼200 0.1౼1 A mixture of paraffins and olefins with a carbon chain length of C1౼C100
Synthesis of higher hydrocarbons and oxygen-containing compounds Fe Cu, NaOH (KOH), Al 2 O 3, SiO 2 200౼230 0.1౼3 Mainly paraffins and olefins mixed with oxygen-containing compounds
Synthesis of paraffins Co TiO 2 , ZrO 2 , ThO 2 , MgO 190౼200 1 Mainly hard paraffins with a melting point of 70-98°C
Ru MgO 180౼200 10౼100 High molecular weight paraffins
Isosynthesis ZrO 2, ThO 2, Al 2 O 3 K2CO3 400౼450 10 Paraffins and olefins are predominantly of isoconstruction
ThO 2 350౼500 10౼100 Isoparaffins and aromatic hydrocarbons
Methanol synthesis ZnO, Cr 2 O 3, CuO 200౼400 5౼30 Methanol
Synthesis of higher alcohols Fe, Fe-Cr, Zn-Cr Al 2 O 3 , NaOH 180౼220, 1౼3, 15౼25 Methanol and higher alcohols

Usage

Currently, two companies are commercializing their technologies based on the Fischer-Tropsch process. Shell in Bintulu uses natural gas as a feedstock and produces predominantly low sulfur diesel fuel. In 1955 in Sasolburg (South Africa) the company Sasol commissioned the first plant for the production of liquid fuel from coal using the Fischer-Tropsch method. Coal comes directly from coal mines through a conveyor to produce synthesis gas. Then the Sasol-2 and Sasol-3 plants were built. The process was used to meet energy needs during isolation under the apartheid regime. Attention to this process has renewed in the search for ways to produce low-sulfur diesel fuels to reduce the environmental damage caused by diesel engines. Currently, South Africa produces 5౼6 million tons of hydrocarbons per year using this method. However, the process is unprofitable and is subsidized by the state as a national treasure. Production in South Africa is focused not so much on the production of motor fuel, but on the production of individual more valuable fractions, for example, lower olefins.

Small American company Rentech is currently focused on converting nitrogen fertilizer plants from using natural gas as feedstock to using coal or coke and liquid hydrocarbons as a by-product.

Choren in Germany and Changing World Technologies (CWT) built factories using the Fischer-Tropsch process or similar.

The Fischer-Tropsch process is a mature technology already in use on a large scale, although its adoption is hampered by high capital costs, high operating and maintenance costs and relatively low crude oil prices. In particular, the use of natural gas as a feedstock becomes expedient when “stranded gas” is used, i.e. natural gas sources located far from the main cities, which are impractical to operate with conventional gas pipelines and LNG technology.

There are large reserves of coal that can be used as a source of fuel as oil reserves are depleted. Since coal is available in huge quantities around the world, this technology can be used temporarily if conventional oil becomes more expensive. The combination of biomass gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is a promising way to produce renewable or green automotive fuels. Synthetic fuel made from coal is competitive when oil prices are above $40. per barrel The capital investments that need to be made range from 7 to 9 billion dollars. for 80 thousand barrels. capacity for the production of synthetic fuel from coal. For comparison, similar oil refining capacities cost about $2 billion.

At the beginning of 2006, projects for the construction of 9 indirect coal liquefaction plants with a total capacity of 90–250 thousand barrels were considered in the United States. in a day.

China plans to invest $15 billion. until 2010౼2015 in the construction of plants for the production of synthetic fuel from coal. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that the total capacity of coal liquefaction plants will reach 16 million tons of synthetic fuel per year, which is 5% of oil consumption in 2005 and 10% of oil imports.

In 2015, the INFRA Group, which developed and patented a new generation of technology for the production of liquid synthetic fuels based on the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process from natural or associated gas (GTL), biomass and coal (XTL), commissioned a catalyst factory. The production facility, with a capacity of 15 tons per year, produces a patented catalyst for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction, developed by company specialists. The task of the factory is to produce catalysts for GTL INFRA plants, as well as to develop processes for the production of new modifications of the catalyst on an industrial scale. In 2016, INFRA designed and built a modular, transportable GTL (gas-to-liquids) plant for processing natural and associated gas into synthetic oil M100 in Wharton (Texas, USA). The company's plans include commercial operation of the plant and sale of synthetic oil. At the request of an oil and gas company, the INFRA group began designing a GTL plant, which is planned to be located in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The plant, with a capacity of 20 thousand petroleum products per year, will produce winter diesel fuel and high-octane gasoline from natural gas from the Vasylkivskoye gas condensate field. The implementation of the gas processing plant construction plan using INFRA's advanced GTL technology will provide the market of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug with high-quality commercial fuel - diesel and gasoline - and significantly reduce the cost of purchasing expensive northern supplies. The development of a feasibility study for construction was carried out in 2017, the design will be completed in 2019. (see http://ru.infratechnology.com/info/).

Technologies for processing coal into liquid fuel raise many questions from environmentalists. The most serious problem is carbon dioxide emissions. Recent work from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has shown that full-cycle greenhouse gas emissions for coal-derived synthetic fuels are about twice as high as their gasoline-based equivalents. Emissions of other pollutants have also increased greatly, although many of them can be collected during production. Carbon burial has been proposed as a way to reduce carbon monoxide emissions. Upload C O 2 (\displaystyle CO_(2)) into oil reservoirs will increase oil production and increase the service life of fields by 20-25 years, however, the use of this technology is possible only with stable oil prices above 50-55 dollars. per barrel An important problem in the production of synthetic fuels is the high water consumption, the level of which is from 5 to 7 gallons for every gallon of fuel produced.

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