7.

The PetroSA HTFT Gas-to-Liquids Plant

The PetroSA facility at Mossel Bay, South Africa, is based on the HTFT Synthol technology
developed by Sasol and has been in operation since 1993. This plant is supplied with natural gas
(NG) and integrates the refining of natural gas liquids (NGL) with that of the synthetic
hydrocarbons from the HTFT synthesis. The process scheme is primarily designed to produce
gasoline and smaller amounts of distillates. The syngas for the FT synthesis using a fused iron
catalyst is produced from natural gas coming from an off-shore gas field. There are two main
refinery sections, the oil workup section taking care of the all hydrocarbons and the aqueous
phase workup section refining the water-soluble oxygenates. Integration features of the plant are
the combined upgrading of the natural gas liquid derived naphtha with the synthetic FT naphtha
and the combined refining of the natural gas condensates with the synthetic FT distillates (Figure
10).12,26
A key unit for distillate production in the refinery is the oligomerization unit that uses the
conversion of olefins to distillate (COD) process that was specifically developed for the
upgrading of FT olefins to diesel. The process was designed in South Africa by the Central
Energy Fund (CEF) and Su¨d-Chemie using a ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst (Su¨d-Chemie COD-9). 34
The mixture of olefins is converted in three reactors. One reactor can be taken off-line for in situ
catalyst regeneration by controlled carbon burnoff. Distillate of high quality (cetane numbers of
48-54) but low density (800 kg m-3 at 15 °C) is produced.28,35 The distillate hydrotreater (DHT)
hydrogenates the COD distillate together with the distillate of the SLO distillation to produce
diesel and kerosene. The straight-run distillate from the NGL recovery is combined with the hy-
drotreated product to produce a final diesel. The PetroSA diesel fuel formulations have CFPP
values typically in the range of -20 °C and lower due to the large portion of iso-paraffins present.
Aromatic content generally is less than 18%, with the bulk of the aromatics being single ring
monoaromatics.

8. The Shell LTFT Gas-to-Liquids Plant

Shell’s first commercial GTL facility based on the Shell middle distillate synthesis (SMDS)
technology was the 12 500 bpd plant commissioned in Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia in 1993. It
was partly destroyed by an explosion in the air separation unit in December 1997. A new air
separation unit was constructed, and the plant was recommissioned in May 2000. It has been in
operation without problems since then. Shell developed its LTFT technology based on the SMDS
process.
The process consists of three major steps, namely, the synthesis gas generation from natural gas,
heavy paraffin synthesis (HPS) using the generated syngas, and heavy paraffin conversion (HPC)
to middle distillates.36 Maximum distillate production is achieved by first using the Fischer-
Tropsch reaction to produce heavier products (high R-value), which then is selec-tively cracked
to the desired carbon number range. The Shell Co LTFT catalyst development resulted in a
catalyst producing an R-value of around 0.90 and higher, while synthesis gas conversion
between 80-95% with a C5+ product selectivity in the range 85-95% have been reported.37-39

A simplified flow scheme of the SMDS plant in Bintulu is shown in Figure 11. It is a two-
stage process converting synthesis gas into middle distillates. The hydrocracker in the HPC step
is operated in the range of 300-350 °C and 3-5 MPa with a Shell proprietary noble metal
hydrocracking catalyst.38 In the HPC stage the olefins and oxygenates are removed by
hydrogenation, and the resulting paraffinic hydro-carbons are hydroisomerized and
hydrocracked into the desired boiling range. The product is fractionated and the unconverted
wax-fraction can either be sold as a wax or recycled to the hydrocracker.

The product selectivity can be influenced by varying the single-pass conversion.39 Depending on
the hydrocracking severity, the product composition can be varied from 15% lights and naphtha,
25% kerosene, and 60% gas oil (distillate) in gas oil mode, to 25% lights and naphtha, 50%
kerosene, and 25% gas oil in kerosene mode. Some typical product properties are given in Table
12.40,41 Although the wax, paraffins, and LPG can be sold as final products, the marketing of the
fuel products depend on Shell’s ability to blend it with the products from their crude oil
refineries to meet fuel specifications.

Figure 10. Oil work-up at PetroSA refinery, Mosselbay, South Africa

Figure 11. Simplified flow scheme of the Shell LTFT GTL plant at Bintulu, Malaysia.