Re: Gaseous Chemical Feedstocks


peterwezeman@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
A recent article pointed out how many chemical plants have been built
to use natural gas
as a feedstock over the years when it was relatively cheap compared to
other hydrocarbons.
It is used to make fertilizer, hydrogen gas, plastics, and low-sulfur
diesel oil, among many
other products. Now that gas is no longer cheap, does it make more
sense to convert to
another feedstock, or it practical to somehow produce synthetic methane
to pipe into
existing distribution systems and chemical plants?

In the case of low-sulfur diesel, I happen to know that the natural gas
is partially burned to
make carbon monoxide, which is then turned into oil using the
Fischer-Tropsch process.
Carbon monoxide from any source would do as well, and we already
produce it from coal
and biomass on a large scale.

A related point, one of the reasons natural gas is a convenient
feedstock is that it can be
piped in with little waste, unlike bringing in trainloads of coal. Is
it practical to make coal gas
at central plants and pipe it to chemical plants some distance away?

It has since come to my attention that the company Rentech is currently
working on converting fertilizer manufacture from natural gas to coal
gas.
http://www.rentechinc.com/


Peter Wezeman
anti-social Darwinist

.

Relevant Pages

  • Gaseous Chemical Feedstocks
    ... A recent article pointed out how many chemical plants have been built ... as a feedstock over the years when it was relatively cheap compared to ... another feedstock, or it practical to somehow produce synthetic methane ... In the case of low-sulfur diesel, I happen to know that the natural gas ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Gaseous Chemical Feedstocks
    ... another feedstock, or it practical to somehow produce synthetic methane ... In the case of low-sulfur diesel, I happen to know that the natural gas ... Carbon monoxide from any source would do as well, ... at central plants and pipe it to chemical plants some distance away? ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Natural Gas as Feedstock
    ... a feedstock to produce fertilizer, plastics, methyl alcohol, etc? ... that the easiest niche to replace natural gas would be as a feedstock. ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Substitute for fertilizer, etc.?
    ... Do they need the molecules of natural gas or oil ... Worm castings are the best natural fertilizer known to man. ... Sadly all the petrochemicals and deep till farming have been ...
    (sci.energy)
  • Re: Dealing with runaway oil prices
    ... Only 1% of natural gas is used for fertilizer. ... space used for growing biofuels competes with space for growing ... Several times that of grain ethanol. ...
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