Pilot gas-to-liquids plant operational at ARCO’s Cherry Point refinery

Plant uses Syntroleum proprietary processes; project led by ARCO Technology and Operations Services staff

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

ARCO and Syntroleum Corp. said July 28 that a pilot gas-to-liquids plant has achieved operating targets at ARCO’s Cherry Point refinery near Bellingham, Wash.

The companies said in a statement that the 70 barrel per day pilot plant has achieved initial operating targets and that an evaluation program is proceeding.

The pilot plant is testing new reactor designs and high-performance Fischer-Tropsch catalyst for the Syntroleum process, a proprietary process for converting natural gas into synthetic fuels and hydrocarbon-based specialty chemicals.

The companies said the project is being led by upstream technology unit, ARCO Technology and Operations Services, based in Plano, Texas, and is staffed with personnel from ARCO’s Plano offices, the Cherry Point refinery, ARCO’s Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska and Syntroleum. The plant’s reactor design was a joint ARCO/Syntroleum effort. Syntroleum conducted development of the catalyst being used in the plant in the company’s Tulsa laboratories.

Proprietary reactor designs at the pilot plant are incorporated in the autothermal reformer and the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reactor system.

Natural gas and air are combined in the autothermal reformer to produce synthesis gas—a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

The Fischer-Tropsch reactor processes the synthesis gas to produce a raw synthetic hydrocarbon product. This raw product, the companies said, can then be processed in separate steps into “fuels that are exceptionally clean, contain no sulfur or aromatics, and can be distributed through the existing fuel distribution infrastructure and burned in conventional engines.”

Syntroleum said that its proprietary Fischer-Tropsch catalyst is key to the process.

“The successful integration of the new catalyst system and the advanced reactor design represents a major step forward in assessing this important technology. We will build upon the knowledge gained in this plant to refine our design concepts for large-scale plants. Our ultimate goal is to deploy an economically attractive design for commercializing stranded natural gas resources,” Jeff Bigger, ARCO’s gas to liquids technology manager, said in a statement.

Mark Agee, Syntroleum president and chief operating officer, said the pilot plant is an important step in “further confirming the economic and technical feasibility of Syntroleum technology.

“It expands our base of reactor designs and catalyst systems, and we expect it will further lower capital costs in large-scale applications,” Agee said in a statement. “We believe that the data from this plant will advance the Syntroleum process as a viable option for monetizing stranded gas. In the months ahead, we expect to be assisting all of our licensees with evaluating this new technology for their individual plans. They should be the first to reap the benefits that economic GTL technology promises, turning the huge stranded gas resources around the globe into new sources of valuable and much needed environmentally clean fuels.”

Tulsa-based Syntroleum Corp. licenses its proprietary process for converting natural gas into synthetic crude oil and transportation fuels. The process is designed to apply in plant sizes ranging from 2,000 barrels per day to more than 100,000 barrels per day. Besides ARCO, current licensees include Enron, Kerr-McGee, Marathon, Texaco and YPF.

Los Angeles-based ARCO has been a leader in natural gas development throughout the world, including China, Indonesia, North America and the North Sea. The company said its current portfolio contains interests in major undeveloped natural gas resources including more than 35 trillion cubic feet on the North Slope of Alaska and more than 20 trillion cubic feet in the Tangguh field in Indonesia. ARCO is actively pursuing LNG projects for these fields; however, the company said, with continued progress, GTL could become an economic option or complimentary commercialization option for a portion of these gas resources.