Why this incredible waste? Turns out it is simple economics: it is cheaper for these companies to burn this gas, and pollute the atmosphere than it is to transport it to where it can be used. Perhaps some financial penalties for their polluting actions would help, but Synfuels thinks they’ve found another way to get these companies to clean up their act.

The Fischer-Tropsch Process
The idea has been around for a while. Basically, it allows the natural gas to be converted to a liquid fuel. Synfuels, which licenses its technology from Texas A&M University, claims it can do this better and cheaper than others ($25/barrel of gasoline instead of the typical $35/barrel from the Fischer-Tropsch process).

The company has been fine tuning its process since 2005, but says it is now close to signing its first commercial contract for a plant, potentially near Kuwait City.

Hopefully this will make it economically sensible to collect that natural gas that is being wasted today, and convert it to fuel. Doesn’t help much with the CO2 emissions, but at least the fuel will be burnt to do something useful (hopefully).

[Via Earth2Tech]

• Earth2Tech is asking about the reported loss from Pickens’ natural gas company, Clean Energy Fuels. A little unfair in the headline perhaps since the company has improved relative to the same quarter last year, and is showing increased revenues too.
• Energy Power Alternatives asks “T Boone Pickens – Visionary Or Profiteer?” Looking at the details of the plan, they seem to be concluding that the main component of the plan is the switch to natural gas for automotive use. It goes on to say that the wind energy component, which at best would supply 20% of the needs of the US, is included to “make his proposal politically more attractive.”

Interesting to see that neither of the articles have anything to say about his water project in Texas, and the controversy surrounding that project and the motives for the wind energy being to make it simpler for him to run a pipeline for his water project that we reported on a while back.