Techno Economic Assessment of the Gas to Liquid and Coal to Liquid Processes

• Author / Creator

  Mohajerani, Sara

• With the fluctuations in conventional crude oil production and uncertainty in its global price, alternative sources of liquid fuels from natural gas and coal are being considered. In addition, formulation of policies in several jurisdictions on phase-out of coal power plants due to climate change considerations has also created a need for the development of alternative utilization of coal. Gas-to-liquid (GTL) and coal-to-liquid (CTL) processes are two liquefaction technologies that respectively convert natural gas and coal to liquid fuels. There is very limited work on development of scale factors for estimation of capital cost of these plants. In this study, the economic potentials of the GTL and CTL processes are investigated. A case study for western Canada is conducted which has large deposits of coal and natural gas. The capital costs of the key equipment of the plants are estimated through development of cost scale-up factors. The production cost for a 50,000 bbl/day of liquid fuels from the GTL and CTL plant is estimated through development of data-intensive techno-economic models using bottom-up methodology. The developed scale-up factor for the GTL and CTL was found to be 0.7 and 0.65 respectively. For both plants, benefits of economey of scale is achieved at a capacity above 20,000 bbl/day. The production cost of the GTL and CTL process are 44.61 and 57.65 cent/lit respectively. On the other hand, when carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) was considered, the production cost of the CTL plant increases significantly. The potential usage of the GTL is attractive due to its simplicity and the relatively low capital investment. On the other hand, the CTL is complex due to the additional CCS and sulphur removal unit.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Coal-to-liquid
  • Gas-to-liquid
  • Techno-economic assessment
  • Western Canada cost

• Graduation date

  Fall 2016

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3T43J750

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.