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Overview
The GRT Technology converts natural gas and biomethane (renewable natural gas) to the same fuels and many of the chemicals that are currently derived from crude oil.
Transportation fuels and many other products that are obtained from crude oil are vital to the world’s economy, serving to explain why this highly versatile material raises such concerns when its ongoing availability is in doubt. According to the Energy Information Administration of the United States Department of Energy, almost 30 percent of the world’s total delivered energy is used for transportation, the vast majority of which is in the form of crude oil-derived liquid fuels, such as gasoline and diesel.[i]
The dependency on crude oil, coupled with the world’s tremendous reserves of natural gas and the potential volumes of biomethane (also known as “renewable natural gas”) have fueled an intensive interest in the development of technology that can produce transportation fuels and commodity chemicals from natural gas.
Reports by both the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the United States Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have cited 2008 worldwide proved reserves of natural gas at approximately 6300 trillion cubic feet (tcf). Put into perspective, 6300 tcf of natural gas is almost equal in energy content to the world’s proved reserves of crude oil and represents over 60 years of natural gas demand at current usage rates.[ii],[iii] Vast as the proved reserves may seem, far more gas is known to exist. According to the 2009 World Energy Outlook2(an annual publication of the IEA):
“The long-term global recoverable gas resource base is estimated at more than 850 trillion cubic meters (tcm) [over 30,000 tcf](including only those categories of resource with currently demonstrated commercial production). Unconventional gas resources — mainly coalbed methane, tight gas (from low-permeability reservoirs) and shale gas — make up about 45% of this total. To date, only 66 tcm of gas has been produced (or flared)”.
Shale gas has had a significant effect in the U.S. Reversing a downward trend that started in 1967, proved reserves have steadily increased each year since 200, reaching 245 tcf in 2008 (the last full year reported by EIA), just short of the all time high.For perspective, every additional 25 tcf (the current annual consumption in the U.S.) of proved reserves ensures another year where natural gas will be an important component of the nation’s energy supply.
Though certainly positive news, the increase in proved reserves represents a small fraction of the gas known to exist in the U.S. The 2008 biennial report of the non-profit Potential Gas Committee (PGC) assessed the nation’s potential natural gas resource base at 1,836 tcf (over 75 years of supply at current usage rates), the highest resource evaluation in the Committee’s 44-year history and an increase from the 2006 report of over 500 tcf. Most of the increase from the previous assessment arose from reevaluation of shale-gas in the Appalachian basin and in the Mid-Continent, Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountain areas.
Many of the shale gas plays are located in areas far removed from the U.S. Gulf Coast, and thus moving shale gas to market will require significant investments in gas processing facilities and pipelines.
The GRT Technology can convert natural gas to high value transportation fuels and chemicals at the source of shale gas eliminating the need for gas processing and pipeline transportation.