Chrysler, Syntroleum Join to Develop Sulfur-Free Fuel
22 October 1998
Chrysler, Syntroleum Join to Develop Sulfur-Free Fuel
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 21 -- Chrysler Corporation and
Syntroleum Corporation , a Tulsa, Oklahoma energy technology
company, announced an agreement to develop designer fuels derived from natural
gas that will be sulfur-free, affordable and potentially cleaner than any
viable transportation fuels currently available.
The announcement was made today at the Society of Automotive Engineers
(SAE) International Fall Fuels and Lubricants Meeting in San Francisco.
Fuels designed from Syntroleum's patented natural gas-to-liquids process
would be able to run in today's vehicles without modification and be ideally
suited for future technologies such as advanced, clean-burning diesel engines,
fuel cells and hybrid electric vehicles.
The technology has the potential to significantly enlarge the world's
readily available fuel supply. Oil and gas companies could economically
convert huge untapped reserves of so-called "stranded" natural gas--which are
currently flared, or burned off--into much more widely applicable, and
therefore marketable, liquid fuels. The designer fuels could be distributed
through the existing infrastructure, so drivers could continue to fill up at
service stations just as they do today. Syntroleum estimates new designer
fuels could sell for less than $1.50 per gallon.
"We believe that designer fuels from natural gas could quickly become the
most viable alternative fuel on the market," said Mark Agee, Syntroleum
president and chief operating officer. Industry estimates suggest there is
enough stranded gas to make 250 billion barrels of synthetic oil -- increasing
known oil reserves by 25 percent, which is a conservative estimate according
to Agee. Syntroleum licensees have begun numerous feasibility studies on
making synthetic fuels from stranded gas and Agee expects plants to begin
producing synthetic fuels in the next few years.
The Syntroluem process has been licensed to Texaco, Inc. of White Plains,
New York, ARCO of Los Angeles, Marathon Oil Co. of Houston, Kerr-McGee
Corporation of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, ENRON Corp. of Houston and YPF S.A. of
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
"Developing cleaner fuels is just as important as developing the cleaner
technologies Chrysler has been working on for some time -- technologies such
as fuel cells, hybrids and advanced compression ignition direct injection
engines," said Bernard Robertson, Chrysler's Vice President - Engineering
Technologies and General Manager - Truck Operations. "Hopefully, this action
will stimulate further development of cleaner fuels. This could be very
significant for both the auto and oil industries."
Currently, enough natural gas is being flared -- wasting natural resources
-- to make an estimated one million barrels per day of synthetic fuels, Agee
said. That makes up approximately seven percent of the daily volume of
transportation fuel consumed in the United States today.
The agreement calls for Chrysler to test several fuel formulations made by
Syntroleum on various engines to determine the optimum physical and chemical
characteristics for each fuel. Researchers will determine the best density,
lubricity, viscosity and volatility levels for the new fuels. The agreement
also allows for joint testing of lubricants and automatic transmission fluids
made with the Syntroleum process.
Unlike conventional petroleum-based fuels, Syntroleum's fuel contains no
aromatic organic molecules -- chemicals that form soot, toxics and hydrocarbon
emmisions. The sulphur-free fuel allows for the use of catalysts that can
reduce oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulates. The technology can also
produce high-cetane fuels, up to 75 cetane, well above the 42 cetane rating in
the diesel fuel widely available in the United States. Cetane is a
measurement of a fuel's tendency to ignite.
This lack of sulfur, aromatics and high cetane rating will allow engines
to be optimized for peak fuel efficiency, minimal emissions and quiet, smooth-
running engines.
"First, the new fuels could curtail the custom of flaring, or burning off
natural gas in oil fields, a practice that wastes valuable resources and
generates copious quantities of carbon dioxide," Robertson said. "Secondly,
these fuels have higher hydrogen-to-carbon ratios than most conventional
fuels, which means less carbon dioxide when they're burned. Plus, they would
enable the development of high fuel efficiency powertrains while meeting
increasingly stringent exhaust emission requirements."
The Syntroleum process is based on the Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels
process invented in Germany in 1923. Fischer-Tropsch chemistry was used
successfully by Germany in the 1940s and by South Africa for several decades
during oil embargoes. In both cases, liquid fuel was produced from coal.
High production costs have slowed commercialization of the process and limited
the use of synthetic fuels.
In the Syntroleum process, natural gas is mixed with air and catalytically
reacted to form synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The
synthesis gas is then reacted with a proprietary catalyst in a Fischer-Tropsch
reactor, which results in a stream of middle-distillate hydrocarbon liquids
that can be further refined into designer fuels and conventional fuels.
Other Fischer-Tropsch based systems require the use of pure oxygen in
their process designs. Syntroleum uses air to generate oxygen, eliminating
the need for costly and complicated cryogenic air separation plants to
generate oxygen. Cryogenics is a process of chilling gas to minus 350 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Syntroleum licenses its proprietary process for converting natural gas
into synthetic crude oil and transportation fuels. The process is designed to
be applied in plants producing 2,000 barrels per day to more than 100,000
barrels per day. Current licenses include YPF, Texaco, ARCO, Kerr-McGee,
Marathon and ENRON.