VIDEO: Shell's Sylvia Williams discusses GTL diesel fuel
The Audi A4 TDI that started off running on GTL
One of the VIPs that Audi invited to be present at the launch of the Mileage Marathon in New York on Monday was Sylvia Williams. Williams is the general manager of business development for future fuels at Shell. The main topic of interest in New York was GTL fuel. GTL is a synthetic liquid diesel fuel made from natural gas. The catalytic process used is similar to that used by companies such as Coskata that are producing cellulosic ethanol from a syngas generated from biomass. The #8 A4 that my friend Lou Ann Hammond drove from New York to Chicago started off the trip with a full tank of GTL. Unlike conventional petroleum diesel - and to a lesser extent biodiesel - GTL is completely clear, colorless and odorless. Since it contains no aromatic compounds it burns cleaner and actually produces dramatically less soot and fewer NOx emissions as well. Currently, GTL isn't available in North America but Shell sells a 10 percent GTL blend in Europe as a premium diesel under the V-Power brand because it also helps engine performance. One big advantage of GTL is that it can be used and distributed without any infrastructure or engine changes. It is however, more expensive than petroleum diesel. Check out Lou Ann's video interview after the jump.
Gallery: Audi Mileage Marathon: The Start
[Source: Carlist.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rob 10:28AM (10/12/2008)
One big DISadvantage -- the net carbon-intensity is about double petroleum diesel.
Burning the NG directly is even cleaner than GTL diesel, and you don't need the oil company.
BP is making plans for when the oilfields they have access to go into decline. With GTL they can keep delivering product to consumers. But don't be suckered by the marketing, they're doing it to stay in business, not out of environmental altruism.
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John Baldwin 11:26AM (10/12/2008)
GTL should not be legal. It is about 30% lower CO2 to run vehicles on dual fuel LNG-diesel dual fuel. Diesel efficiency but NOX and air quality benefits of CH4. Minior modifications to engines.
why not the LS2LS7? 11:55AM (10/12/2008)
GTL makes no sense, it's just not energy-efficient to make, and thus isn't cost-effective either.
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Mike Z 1:52PM (10/12/2008)
Sam:
GTL and the Coskata are very very dissimilar.
While both rely on gasification to covert the input into syngas, the Coskata process relies on organisms that change that syngas into ethanol.
GTL relies on Fisher Tropsch process of converting the syngas into diesel-range hydrocarbons. Fisher Tropsch requires very pure syngas (so gasifiying biomass would require expensive syngas scrubbing) and expensive catalysts.
The two processes bare no resemblance to each other.
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gorr 4:43PM (10/12/2008)
They flare away natural gas in oilfields because for them it's a pollutant that come with crude oil extracting, so why they don't make GTL with it? It's because it take more investments and taking a barel in the ground cost 0.50$ and it's cheaper then making gtl and the only ones that compete theoricaly with them are natural gas sellers but they work with them so they won't compete and sell you something better and cheaper and non-polluting.
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why not the LS2LS7? 11:16AM (10/13/2008)
That isn't really done anymore. Gas is only flared if there is no infrastructure set up to store it. If there is a significant amount of natural gas in the well, they will build the equipment to capture and deliver it.
Diesel to liquids 2:17AM (1/20/2009)
The discussion between the diesel fuels where the fuels are been given much importance by the advance usage and the extraction from the natural gas .
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