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Fuel From Natural Gas
February 08, 2002The scientists from the Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, Russian Academy of Sciences, won Golden Medal and a bonus grant at the 49th World Exhibition of Invention, Research and Industrial Innovation ("Eureka") in Brussels for their work "Synthesis of dimethyl ether". The dateless dream of several generations of chemists has finally become true. The Moscow scientists have thought up how to produce motor fuel not from oil but from oil gas.
Motor fuel has been produced from oil for a very long time. Oil is burnt and sometimes it is as improvident as to burn banknotes in a stove because oil is the most valuable and very often the only resource for petrochemical, chemical, building, textile, pharmaceutical, and even food industries. Moreover, its reserves are limited.
Theoretically, petrol and other kinds of motor fuel can be synthesized from natural gas, or to be more precise, from methane which content in natural gas is about 94 per cent. In addition, there is much more natural gas than oil on our planet. To obtain motor fuel methane is turned into so-called synthesis-gas which is the mixture of carbon oxides and hydrogen. Exactly from this gas methyl alcohol and motor fuel are produced. However, you can hardly regulate the content of the final products upon this process - the mixture of different hydrocarbons including very heave ones is obtained.
The researchers at the Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis under the supervision of Professor Alexander Rozovsky and Professor Yuliy Kolbanovsky have offered two new possible decisions in the frame of this problem.
The researchers needed to have a fresh look at the well-known reaction of getting synthesis-gas, which we learnt at school, and the technology of producing methanol and motor fuel from this gas. Having analyzed all the stages of the process, the scientists firstly suggested getting synthesis-gas in modified engines of different types: from common diesel engine to a rocket one. As a result, the engine is turned into a chemical reactor which produces electricity when synthesizing.
Secondly, they made a conclusion that producing dimethyl ether from synthesis-gas proved to be more profitable in comparison with getting the intermediate product methanol.
The matter is that dimethyl ether itself is a wonderful diesel fuel which can be used as a domestic gas, as a fuel for power stations, and as a substitute for refrigerants in refrigeration systems. Its properties are similar to the properties of propane-butane mixtures and it burns away to carbon dioxide and water without soot and carbon monoxide. In addition, producing dimethyl ether from synthesis-gas is technically easier and economically more profitable in comparison with getting methanol.
Moreover, it is possible to produce high-quality, high-octane, and pure petrol from dimethyl ether. This synthesis was developed and even carried out at pilot industrial level by the scientists from the Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis in collaboration with the researchers from the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences. In addition, the scientists developed the synthesis of petrol directly from methane, without any intermediate stages of getting methanol or dimethyl ether.
In such a way the perspective on filling the tanks of cars with petrol made of methane is quite real. "Taking into consideration the scientific work done we can hope that efficient technologies of getting motor fuel and petrol chemicals from natural gas based on the latest discoveries and ideas will be developed in the nearest future", Rozovsky said.
Informnauka (Informscience) Agency
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