2015 AIChE Spring Meeting and 11th Global Congress on Process Safety
(26a) Development of Lesser Known Gas Monetization Projects
The increasing availability of natural gas provides more opportunities for gas utilization or monetization. This presentation will look at lesser-known options for gas monetization projects Gas-to-Wire and Gas-to-Methanol and discuss the economics of those projects for worldwide application.
Gas–to-Wire is not unique for gas monetization, except for converting the gas into electrical power near the source of the gas and transporting over long distances. The safety of the system is greatly improved and the end product can be easily integrated with current infrastructure. Gas-to-Wire offers the potential use of stranded gas or can eliminate flaring when other options are not feasible.
An alternative gas monetization option is Gas-to-Methanol, a chemical that has a wide range of end users such as fuels and solvents but little direct uses. However, the market for methanol is highly dependent on feed gas price and transportation costs, which makes areas with cheaper natural gas, such as the US, attractive again, for methanol production.