American Gas - May 2014 - (Page 25)

texas A Better Gasoline Planned low-sulfur gasoline plant would use natural gas as feedstock HOUSTON, Tx -The development energy company ZeoGas LLC has acquired a methanol production technology license from Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions that it will use as part of a natural gas-togasoline manufacturing operation; that operation is now in the planning stages. The initial capacity of the planned production facility will be 5,000 metric tons per day of Grade AA methanol. The methanol will serve as feedstock for a new methanol-togasoline production plant that ZeoGas also is planning. ZeoGas expects to produce 16,500 barrels per day of zero-sulfur, regular-octane gasoline when both facilities are in operation. The company plans to add production facilities over time, creating a "giga-scale" enterprise, Timothy Belton, founder and CEO of ZeoGas, told American Gas. "Our intent is to build a portfolio of plants that eventually produce as much as 5 percent of the total amount of gasoline consumed in the United States," said Belton. "But this is more than just a commodity arbitrage between the pricing of dry natural gas and refined crude. As further reductions in the sulfur content of retail gasoline are phased in, ZeoGas will offer an attractive sulfur-free, ultra-low-benzene alternative." To produce its new gasoline, ZeoGas plans to use a single-step process deploying shape-selected zeolite catalysts, which will dehydrate the methanol, producing primarily ASTM-spec gasoline and some liquefied petroleum gas. "When consumed by combustion engines, this gasoline has no sulfur and 70 percent less benzene," Belton said. "It also has significantly lower particulate emissions than gasoline refined from crude oil, so it has a far less negative impact on the environment, but it has all the octane power of regular gasoline, which makes it ideal for use with automobiles, light trucks, and any other gasoline-powered engines." ZeoGas is focused on meeting the environmental permitting and compliance requirements needed to proceed with the project, Jeri Wechsler, cofounder and general counsel, said in a statement. "Work has already begun with environmental and technical experts to assure not only that ZeoGas obtains requisite pre-construction permits within its development schedule, but also that key aspects of ZeoGas' environmental management system and compliance assurance program are fully integrated." ZeoGas hopes to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals by year end, break ground on its new plants in early 2015, and begin gasoline production in 2017. -G.J. operational administrative financial transactional LDC Manager ™ Pipeline Transaction Mgmt ™ PGAS liquids/gas measurement ® Accounting / ERP ™ (GL, AP, AR) Business Intelligence NE W 2017, pending regulatory approvals. The project includes compressions and about 16 miles of looping in Transco's existing Leidy line in Pennsylvania, as well as a greenfield segment, the Central Penn Line, connecting the Marcellus in northeastern Pennsylvania to the Transco main line in southeastern Pennsylvania. Transco estimates its investment in the pipeline at $2.1 billion. The 177-mile greenfield segment will be built out by Transco, WGL Midstream, and three other parties. WGL Midstream will invest $410 million in the project and has signed a deal with major Marcellus producer Cabot Oil and Gas to purchase 500,000 dekatherms a day of gas over a 15-year term. "The Transco pipeline system...was originally designed to move gas from south to north," Frank Ferazzi, vice president and general manager of Transco, told American Gas. "[Atlantic Sunrise] will require modifications at about 10 existing Transco facilities to allow for southbound flow." Portions of the pipeline will become bi-directional, allowing Transco to ship gas from the Marcellus all the way to southwestern Alabama. From there, the Sabal Trail pipeline planned by NextEra Energy and Spectra Energy will be able to transport Marcellus gas to Miami. Sabal Trail is expected to go into service by mid-2017. Transco operates the nation's largestvolume interstate gas pipeline system, with 10,200 miles of pipeline. Planned buildouts will expand the system by 50 percent before year-end 2017. - E.S. Software Solutions for Energy Trading & Risk Mgmt ™ 713-430-8601 info@qbsol.com qbsol.com/aga may 2014 AmericAn GAs 25 http://www.qbsol.com/aga http://www.qbsol.com/aga

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American Gas - May 2014