SASOL in South Africa has developed commercial processes for producing synthetic liquid fuels from natural gas. &nbsp;The first step is the steam reformaing of natural gas to a &quot;syngas&quot; composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. &nbsp;The next step is the Fischer-Tropsch conversion of the syngas in a SASOL Slurry Phase Reactor to produce middle distillate fuels (such as kerosene and diesel oil) as well as some naphtha. &nbsp;The final step is the upgrading of the middle distillates and the naphtha.<br>
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SASOL has also developed an Advanced Synthol Reactor for the Fischer-Tropsch conversion of the syngas into light olefins and gasoline fractions.<br>
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There is quite a bit of information about the SASOL processes at their web site: first, go to www.sasol.com/products/default.asp; then click on &quot;About Sasol&quot; and you will get a dropdown menu; click on &quot;Sasol Technologies&quot; and you get another dropdown menu; click on &quot;Process&quot; and get another drop-down menu; finally click on &quot;Gas-to-Liquid&quot; and you are there.<br>
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Milton Beychok<br>
(Visit me at www.air-dispersion.com)<br>