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Developments in Fischer—Tropsch technology and its application
02 Liquid fuels (derived liquid fuels)
Economics, business, marketing, policy
The inter-relationship between the rate of combustion, thermal efficiency of coal combustion, and fuel consumption rate in the thermal energy production was studied. Atmospheric emissions of acid forming SO2 and NOx in coal combustion were also considered.
02/01367 Empirical evidence for the superiority of non-US oil and gas investments Boone, J.P. Energy Economics, 2001, 23, (2), 211-226. This paper provides empirical estimates of the return on US and nonUS exploration investment. The estimates are obtained from a polynomial distributed lag model [Econometrica 33 (1965) 178] that relates the present value of current period reserve discoveries to current and lagged US and non-US exploration investment. The empirical evidence presented in the paper indicates that the net present value of $1 invested in non-US exploration is larger in a statistically significant sense than the net present value of $1 invested in U.S exploration. In particular, results indicate that the return on non-US exploration investment is approximately 3.5 times as large as the return earned on US exploration investment. The results reported in this paper provide insights potentially useful to US energy policymakers.
02/01368 Forecasting the United Kingdom's supplies and demands for fluid fossil fuels Mackay, R.M. and Probert, S.D. Appl. Energy, 2001, 69, (3), 161-189. A novel, but by now, well tried and tested approach to the mathematical modelling of the extraction life-cycle of any depleting fossil fuel resource has been developed. It is a bottom-up technique for energy planning, whereby an integrated summation of the outputs from the various producing fields in the considered region is obtained. As the present paper will show, in the absence of political interference, this means for predicting the resulting future availabilities of the mineral fuels has been validated. Even in the event of a fiscal change, the model can be adjusted to take account of the new scenario. The evolved 'skewed-normal profile for the rate-of-extraction', supply model (i) yields a better representation than has been achieved with earlier approaches and (ii) is appropriate for use with rate-ofextraction data, that rise with time to a plateau, and then decline more slowly, but is unsatisfactory for use when the profile exhibits more than a single rate-of-extraction peak. Also, in many circumstances, the profile is less systematic in shape, often as a result of temporary political, economic or onstream changes. Thus, for these situations, it is proposed that a 'skewed-normal profile extraction' supply model be used in conjunction with what is here described as the reverse-projection technique. The application of the model, without and with reverse projections for the U K crude oil and natural gas extraction-rates data, is demonstrated. Reasonable predictions, for both crude oil and natural gas rates of demand, can be achieved only for a country that is politically and economically stable. Even then, because of uncertainties and social factors, it is often difficult to formulate a wise policy concerning long-term fuel requirements. Nevertheless, it is only by understanding the implications of changing fuel-demands that a long-term strategy can be evolved for a country's economy. Thus, it is desirable to try to predict the future requirements for crude oil and natural gas, and so, as an additional tool, a 'modified logit-function' demand model has been developed for use with the usually readily-available historic consumption data. It is based on extrapolations, using reasonable-trend assumptions, for the appropriate energy-intensity (i.e. annual fuel consumption/annual gross domestic product (GDP)), population and GDP/capita likely future behaviours.
02/01369 Modeling Petroleum Productivity in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region Iledare, O.O. et al. Energy Studies Review, 1999, 9, (2), 86--95. Productivity generally refers to the amount of output that can be produced with a given input. However, because measures of inputs and outputs can vary considerably, several indicators of productivity in petroleum resource development are possible. The more meaningful indicators of productivity that relate directly to upstream activities include drilling success rates, average discovery size, finding rates, and yield per effort. In this paper, we examine the performance of the oil and gas upstream industry in the Gulf of Mexico OCS region using these indicators. Further, using econometric modelling techniques, we determine empirically the effects of depletion, technical progress, economic and policy incentives, structural changes and market conditions on the returns to exploration activities in the US Gulf of Mexico OCS. The model results confirm expectations of diminishing returns to wildcat drilling on the OCS due to resource depletion, while the combined effects of economic incentives, institutional restructuring, and technical progress have mitigated significantly the declining trend in wildcat drilling productivity in the region.
02/01370 Technological aspects of realization of the energy potential of coal Gagarin, S.G. et al. Khim. Tverd. Top/. (Moscow), 2001, 2, 14-23. (In Russian)
Derived liquid fuels 02/01371 A process for producing hydrocarbons, and a catalyst suitable for use in the process Van Den Brink, P.J. et al. PCT Int. AppI. WO 01 76,736 (CI. B01J23/ 74), 18 Oct 2001, EP Appl. 2000/302,950, 7 Apr 2000. 17. The invention relates to a novel process for producing hydrocarbons, which process comprises contacting a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen at elevated temperature and pressure with a catalyst comprising a Group VIII metal supported on a carrier, which Group VIII metal is present at least partly in metallic form, and which catalyst further comprises inorganic phosphate. In a quantity of at least 0.05 W, calculated as elemental phosphorus relative to the weight of the catalyst; a novel catalysts which comprises, supported on a carrier, a Group VIII metal selected from nickel, cobalt, iron and ruthenium, and a further metal selected from manganese, vanadium, zirconium and rhenium, which catalyst further comprises inorganic phosphate in a quantity of at least 0.05 W, calculated as elemental phosphorus relative to the weight of the catalyst; and a process for preparing the novel catalyst composition.
02/01372
Coal liquefaction
Tamura, M. et al. Jpn. Kokai Tokkyo Koho JP 2001 164,163 (CI. C10GI/06), 19 Jun 2001, Appl. 1999/348,669, 8 Dec 1999. 8. (In Japanese) The title method comprises mechanical pulverizing of coal feeds and iron ores-type catalysts (especially, limonite or pyrrhotite) in a recycle coal-derived solvent to give a slurry having an average grain diameter of <10 mm, and then hydroliquefaction of the slurry in the presence of S and/or S compounds at 350-500 ° and H partial pressure 7-20 MPa for 10-120 min. The iron ore-type catalyst contains Fe >40, Ni 0.2-2.5, AI(OH)3 6-20, and Cr <1.4 wt%. The atmospheric ratio of S in the S compounds to Fe in limonite is preferably (1.0-5.0):1. The method increases the catalyst activity and the yield of high-quality light oil.
02/01373 Developments in Fischer-Tropsch technology and Its application Jager, B. et al. Stud. Surf. Sci. Catal., 2001, 136, 63-68. The last few of decades have seen important advances in the development of reactors used for Fischer-Tropsch conversions. This led to the introduction of commercial fluidized bed reactors for high temperature Fischer-Tropsch processes and commercial slurry bubble bed reactors for low temperature Fischer-Tropsch, both at SASOL. Important in these developments were parallel developments in the catalysts used in these reactors. The present paper deals mainly with the development of the low temperature Fischer-Tropsch slurry bed reactor and catalyst.
02/01374 Developments in the field of conversion of natural gas to liquid hydrocarbons Ernst, S. Erdoel, Erdgas, Kohle, 2001, 117, (5), 225-227. (In German) The conversion of natural gas into liquid hydrocarbons by the FischerTropsch process is described. The liquid products were S-free and could be used as high quality fuels or as lubricants, depending on their hydrocarbon chain length. The process was economical even at petroleum prices of 15$/bbl, and had benefits to use natural gas sources which were far away from gas infrastructure or for the conversion of petroleum-related gases.
02/01375 Experimental study of two-stage riser FCC reactions Shan, H. et al. Fuel, 2001, 80, (8), 1179-1185. The concept of two-stage riser (TSR) fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) was tested in the laboratory. The goals were to improve product distribution and increase product yield. A series of FCC runs was carried out in a pilot unit. At a similar conversion level, the results showed that the TSR FCC was better than the one-stage riser (OSR). The yields of gasoline and light oil increased by 2-3% and 3-4%, respectively, and the gas decreased. The research and motor octane numbers of gasoline from the TSR FCC were higher than those from the OSR FCC by 2-3 and 1-2 units, respectively. Compared with the one-stage FCC, the gasoline produced from the TSR FCC contains less alkene and more iso-alkane.
Fuel and Energy Abstracts May 2002
177
Economics, business, marketing, policy
The inter-relationship between the rate of combustion, thermal efficiency of coal combustion, and fuel consumption rate in the thermal energy production was studied. Atmospheric emissions of acid forming SO2 and NOx in coal combustion were also considered.
02/01367 Empirical evidence for the superiority of non-US oil and gas investments Boone, J.P. Energy Economics, 2001, 23, (2), 211-226. This paper provides empirical estimates of the return on US and nonUS exploration investment. The estimates are obtained from a polynomial distributed lag model [Econometrica 33 (1965) 178] that relates the present value of current period reserve discoveries to current and lagged US and non-US exploration investment. The empirical evidence presented in the paper indicates that the net present value of $1 invested in non-US exploration is larger in a statistically significant sense than the net present value of $1 invested in U.S exploration. In particular, results indicate that the return on non-US exploration investment is approximately 3.5 times as large as the return earned on US exploration investment. The results reported in this paper provide insights potentially useful to US energy policymakers.
02/01368 Forecasting the United Kingdom's supplies and demands for fluid fossil fuels Mackay, R.M. and Probert, S.D. Appl. Energy, 2001, 69, (3), 161-189. A novel, but by now, well tried and tested approach to the mathematical modelling of the extraction life-cycle of any depleting fossil fuel resource has been developed. It is a bottom-up technique for energy planning, whereby an integrated summation of the outputs from the various producing fields in the considered region is obtained. As the present paper will show, in the absence of political interference, this means for predicting the resulting future availabilities of the mineral fuels has been validated. Even in the event of a fiscal change, the model can be adjusted to take account of the new scenario. The evolved 'skewed-normal profile for the rate-of-extraction', supply model (i) yields a better representation than has been achieved with earlier approaches and (ii) is appropriate for use with rate-ofextraction data, that rise with time to a plateau, and then decline more slowly, but is unsatisfactory for use when the profile exhibits more than a single rate-of-extraction peak. Also, in many circumstances, the profile is less systematic in shape, often as a result of temporary political, economic or onstream changes. Thus, for these situations, it is proposed that a 'skewed-normal profile extraction' supply model be used in conjunction with what is here described as the reverse-projection technique. The application of the model, without and with reverse projections for the U K crude oil and natural gas extraction-rates data, is demonstrated. Reasonable predictions, for both crude oil and natural gas rates of demand, can be achieved only for a country that is politically and economically stable. Even then, because of uncertainties and social factors, it is often difficult to formulate a wise policy concerning long-term fuel requirements. Nevertheless, it is only by understanding the implications of changing fuel-demands that a long-term strategy can be evolved for a country's economy. Thus, it is desirable to try to predict the future requirements for crude oil and natural gas, and so, as an additional tool, a 'modified logit-function' demand model has been developed for use with the usually readily-available historic consumption data. It is based on extrapolations, using reasonable-trend assumptions, for the appropriate energy-intensity (i.e. annual fuel consumption/annual gross domestic product (GDP)), population and GDP/capita likely future behaviours.
02/01369 Modeling Petroleum Productivity in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region Iledare, O.O. et al. Energy Studies Review, 1999, 9, (2), 86--95. Productivity generally refers to the amount of output that can be produced with a given input. However, because measures of inputs and outputs can vary considerably, several indicators of productivity in petroleum resource development are possible. The more meaningful indicators of productivity that relate directly to upstream activities include drilling success rates, average discovery size, finding rates, and yield per effort. In this paper, we examine the performance of the oil and gas upstream industry in the Gulf of Mexico OCS region using these indicators. Further, using econometric modelling techniques, we determine empirically the effects of depletion, technical progress, economic and policy incentives, structural changes and market conditions on the returns to exploration activities in the US Gulf of Mexico OCS. The model results confirm expectations of diminishing returns to wildcat drilling on the OCS due to resource depletion, while the combined effects of economic incentives, institutional restructuring, and technical progress have mitigated significantly the declining trend in wildcat drilling productivity in the region.
02/01370 Technological aspects of realization of the energy potential of coal Gagarin, S.G. et al. Khim. Tverd. Top/. (Moscow), 2001, 2, 14-23. (In Russian)
Derived liquid fuels 02/01371 A process for producing hydrocarbons, and a catalyst suitable for use in the process Van Den Brink, P.J. et al. PCT Int. AppI. WO 01 76,736 (CI. B01J23/ 74), 18 Oct 2001, EP Appl. 2000/302,950, 7 Apr 2000. 17. The invention relates to a novel process for producing hydrocarbons, which process comprises contacting a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen at elevated temperature and pressure with a catalyst comprising a Group VIII metal supported on a carrier, which Group VIII metal is present at least partly in metallic form, and which catalyst further comprises inorganic phosphate. In a quantity of at least 0.05 W, calculated as elemental phosphorus relative to the weight of the catalyst; a novel catalysts which comprises, supported on a carrier, a Group VIII metal selected from nickel, cobalt, iron and ruthenium, and a further metal selected from manganese, vanadium, zirconium and rhenium, which catalyst further comprises inorganic phosphate in a quantity of at least 0.05 W, calculated as elemental phosphorus relative to the weight of the catalyst; and a process for preparing the novel catalyst composition.
02/01372
Coal liquefaction
Tamura, M. et al. Jpn. Kokai Tokkyo Koho JP 2001 164,163 (CI. C10GI/06), 19 Jun 2001, Appl. 1999/348,669, 8 Dec 1999. 8. (In Japanese) The title method comprises mechanical pulverizing of coal feeds and iron ores-type catalysts (especially, limonite or pyrrhotite) in a recycle coal-derived solvent to give a slurry having an average grain diameter of <10 mm, and then hydroliquefaction of the slurry in the presence of S and/or S compounds at 350-500 ° and H partial pressure 7-20 MPa for 10-120 min. The iron ore-type catalyst contains Fe >40, Ni 0.2-2.5, AI(OH)3 6-20, and Cr <1.4 wt%. The atmospheric ratio of S in the S compounds to Fe in limonite is preferably (1.0-5.0):1. The method increases the catalyst activity and the yield of high-quality light oil.
02/01373 Developments in Fischer-Tropsch technology and Its application Jager, B. et al. Stud. Surf. Sci. Catal., 2001, 136, 63-68. The last few of decades have seen important advances in the development of reactors used for Fischer-Tropsch conversions. This led to the introduction of commercial fluidized bed reactors for high temperature Fischer-Tropsch processes and commercial slurry bubble bed reactors for low temperature Fischer-Tropsch, both at SASOL. Important in these developments were parallel developments in the catalysts used in these reactors. The present paper deals mainly with the development of the low temperature Fischer-Tropsch slurry bed reactor and catalyst.
02/01374 Developments in the field of conversion of natural gas to liquid hydrocarbons Ernst, S. Erdoel, Erdgas, Kohle, 2001, 117, (5), 225-227. (In German) The conversion of natural gas into liquid hydrocarbons by the FischerTropsch process is described. The liquid products were S-free and could be used as high quality fuels or as lubricants, depending on their hydrocarbon chain length. The process was economical even at petroleum prices of 15$/bbl, and had benefits to use natural gas sources which were far away from gas infrastructure or for the conversion of petroleum-related gases.
02/01375 Experimental study of two-stage riser FCC reactions Shan, H. et al. Fuel, 2001, 80, (8), 1179-1185. The concept of two-stage riser (TSR) fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) was tested in the laboratory. The goals were to improve product distribution and increase product yield. A series of FCC runs was carried out in a pilot unit. At a similar conversion level, the results showed that the TSR FCC was better than the one-stage riser (OSR). The yields of gasoline and light oil increased by 2-3% and 3-4%, respectively, and the gas decreased. The research and motor octane numbers of gasoline from the TSR FCC were higher than those from the OSR FCC by 2-3 and 1-2 units, respectively. Compared with the one-stage FCC, the gasoline produced from the TSR FCC contains less alkene and more iso-alkane.
Fuel and Energy Abstracts May 2002
177