Future Fuel - GTL Is the New Alternative Fuel for Cars & Trucks

2008-04-26 07:38:58 - Dramatic reductions in auto and truck emissions are within reach, without modifying engines or vehicles.

It's the fuel of the future, and no, it's not solar, wind or thermal.

It's GTL, or Gas to Liquids fuel - an essentially non-polluting energy source that can be produced from otherwise unusable and worthless 'stranded' natural gas, the type that is normally vented into the air as oil field waste. Coal and biomass can also be used to produce GTL, but they have not proven practical.

GTL can be used alone as an Ultra Clean Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuel, or blended with other fuels for use in all types of engines and vehicles.

This eco-friendly fuel produces lower overall emissions with improved engine performance, and it can be used without modifying current diesel engines. Since diesel is the fastest-growing motor fuel, diversifying the source of diesel away from petroleum products is a major environmental plus.

At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2008, Audi ran a fleet of 81 A8 chauffeured sedans powered by GTL synthetic fuel. (Audi built a special GTL filling station next to its marketing pavilion in Davos.) The combination of 3.0 TDI engines and GTL fuel reduced carbon monoxide emissions by 93%, fuel consumption by 10%, CO2 emissions by 13%, and eliminated sulfur dioxide emissions entirely.

The GTL processing technology was developed in the 1920s, but large-scale commercial production is only ramping up now. Shell is currently building the world's largest integrated GTL project, set to open around the end of the decade in Qatar, the Arab emirate in Southwest Asia.

Links to GTL fuel processes, sources, applications and benefits can be found at www.GTLfuel101.com.