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Science Forum Index » Energy - Hydrogen Forum » A Practical Use for Waste Methane
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| Pluto |
 Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:58 am |
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About 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas are burned off or simply vented at
remote oil rigs and refineries that are not connected by pipelines. The practice wastes
a precious fuel and pumps methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.
Technologies for compressing or liquefying natural gas in order to transport it are
expensive and only make sense at large oil fields. So, researchers have been looking for
viable technologies to convert the natural gas found at small, isolated oil fields into
compounds that are easier to transport and distribute.
A new breakthrough by chemists at the Munich University of Technology, in Germany, and
Dow Chemical, in Midland, MI, could lead to a technology for turning methane, the main
component of natural gas, into easily transportable and valuable chemicals.
Because of its simplicity, the new chemistry could be employed at natural-gas reserves
that are in
remote locations with no infrastructure to transfer the gas to markets. About half of
the world's known natural-gas reserves of 170 trillion cubic meters are in such
deposits, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Specifically, the researchers found a simple way to convert methane into methyl
chloride, which can easily be converted into petrochemicals such as ethylene or
propylene, used to make plastics. Ethylene and propylene, says Johannes Lercher, a
chemistry professor at the Munich University of Technology, are far easier to transport
than methane is.
Another competitor, Gas Reaction Technologies, based in Santa Barbara, CA, is
commercializing a technology to directly convert natural gas into liquid fuels and
chemicals. The process is very similar to the new Dow process, except it uses bromine
instead of chlorine. Gas Reaction Technologies, which is working with several partners,
including Cargill, expects to have facilities going within three to five years, says
Eric McFarland, the company's CEO.
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=18234&ch=energy |
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