Alternative fuels include biofuels (mainly ethanol and biodiesel), synthetic fuels derived from syngas derived from biomass and coal, and hydrogen.
The rapid rise of biofuels In a variety of alternative energy sources, biofuels are expected to become an important source of fuel within 10 years, and ethanol fuels have obvious advantages. An important part of the new energy bill signed by the United States this year is the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS). Under the RFS requirements, nearly 50% of the US gasoline will need to be blended with ethanol, with a typical volume of 10%. It will certainly drive the expansion of ethanol production capacity in the United States. At the same time, the European Biofuels Directive also sets specific targets for the use of biofuels, which will greatly increase the demand for biodiesel and ethanol. In the next 10 years, ethanol consumption in Europe will reach about 1 billion gallons per year. At the same time, in view of the European countries joining the European Union, the use of ethanol in Europe will increase further in order to achieve consistency in biofuels.
These initiatives have set off a boom in the construction of biofuel plants in many countries around the world. The German company Lurgi said that it has recently received three contracts for the construction of biofuel plants worth a total value of 70 million U.S. dollars, with a total contracted production of nearly 900 tons per day; at the same time, Kakir is building a series of projects in Germany, Poland and the United States. Biofuel production facilities; Dow Chemical also began producing biodiesel in Houston. The upsurge in the construction of biofuels has also benefited from advances in enzyme technology. Modern enzyme technology can enable agricultural crops to directly produce ethanol products, even without government subsidies. The corn stover ethanolase technology developed jointly by the U.S. government and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has achieved results, the production cost can be reduced by 30 times, and the fuel production cost is 10 to 18 cents/gallon.
Automobile manufacturers also expect to use more alternative fuels. Automobiles produced by automakers, including General Motors and Ford, have been run on bioethanol, and even today's standard vehicles can use gasoline to blend up to 10% bioethanol. The mixture is fuel. In Sweden, 5% biofuel is now added to regular gasoline.
GTL synthetic fuels came into being At the same time as the rapid rise of biofuels, natural gas to synthetic oil (GTL) technology is rekindling the hope of global investors and consumers.
With the increasing global demand for petroleum products for transportation fuels and the stricter fuel quality standards adopted by various countries, transportation fuels produced from non-petroleum resources are gradually becoming an attractive choice for consumers. SRI pointed out that in the current global oil prices continue to rise, GTL technology continues to improve and the cost of GTL equipment investment under the circumstances, the use of Fischer-Tropsch GTL technology to convert natural gas resources in remote areas into synthetic oil projects are arousing investor interest.
There are currently two small Fischer-Tropsch GTL installations in operation worldwide, namely the South African Oil Company's Mossel?Bay unit in South Africa and Shell's Bintulu unit in Malaysia. In addition, there are a large number of large-scale GTL projects currently under planning or construction, such as the 34,000 bbl/d GTL unit that South Africa’s Sasol and Qatar Petroleum have jointly invested in Qatar; Chevron Texaco The company builds 34,000 barrels per day of Escravos GTL plant in Nigeria; Shell is negotiating with Qatar Petroleum to establish a GTL plant in Qatar; ExxonMobil has signed with Qatar to build 154,000 barrels in Qatar/ The GTL device agreement of the day; Sasol Chevron has signed two memoranda with Qatar Petroleum, one is to build a second GTL device (known as O?ryxII), producing 66,000 barrels per day Synthetic oil, the other is based on the OryxI device to build 8500 barrels / day high quality lubricant base oil device.
Although Fischer-Tropsch technology is continuously developing, investment costs are still high. In order to reduce investment costs and increase competitiveness, major companies are developing a new generation of Fischer-Tropsch GTL technology. The focus of R&D includes: Breakthroughs in bottlenecks in GTL processes, such as heat transfer and thermal balance systems in syngas plants, with higher activity Fischer-Tropsch catalysts reduce CO2 emissions.
The application of hydrogen energy will wait for many experts to believe that the large-scale production of GTL will be realized in a few years, and the large-scale use of hydrogen energy will be realized in more than 10 years. Some large oil companies, including BP and Shell, have locked the energy market into hydrogen fuel. . Hydrogen can be produced at low cost as a by-product of some chemical and refining production, but large-scale production still requires energy and infrastructure support, and there are still some problems with using it as fuel.
JM's development activities in alternative fuels include the supply of hydrogen, the manufacture of fuel cells, and the production of clean fuels. The company has considered hydrogen as an alternative to carbon-based fuels. Shell Hydrogen plans to take the lead in the hydrogen economy. Within the first 10 years, preliminary development projects have been initiated, including the operation of hydrogen charging stations; BP plans to produce, distribute and sell hydrogen, and a series of verification projects are underway.
Some gas companies also participate in hydrogen fuel development activities. Air Products believes that alternative fuels, especially hydrogen, have huge market potential. Several hydrogen fueling stations will be built in 2007. Air Liquide's activities in the area of ​​alternative fuels include the production and supply of hydrogen, fuel cell development and manufacturing, and the production of bio-based fuels. Its long-term goal is to use hydrogen energy systems for the automotive market. At present, the company has cooperated with a French company to develop a fuel cell system to provide electricity for remote areas where conventional grids are not easily connected.
The constant rise in oil and gas prices is becoming a reason why major chemical companies compete to enter the fuel market. Currently BASF, BP, Dow Chemical, DuPont, ExxonMobil, Air Liquide, Air Products and other companies are actively adjusting alternative fuel development strategies, developing alternative fuel production technologies, and looking for their own market development opportunities. The active participation of these large companies has made the development of alternative fuels around the world a prosperous and prosperous scene.