Pre-Conference - 17 Feb 08’
FISCHER-TROPSCH Workshop
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Join us in Doha for the biggest GTL event of the year

An impressive line up of authoritative speakers to give you the real global picture of GTL developments, technologies & the future of the industry

Why you NEED to attend GTLtec DOHA 2008. Key highlights of the conference

Bringing together the major players in Qatar to discuss on the recent developments and progress on their projects

In the latest developments Sasol claims to have substantially overcome the technical problems afflicting its high-profile Oryx GTL joint venture and announced that the plant will hit full capacity by 2008. Has the problems which was estimated to cost 50 mn to fix, deter Sasol’s aspiration to apply the GTL technology elsewhere.? As the world watches on Oryx performance will this high-profile project become the shop window for the gas-to-liquids industry?

Meanwhile ,construction of the 140,000 barrels- per-day Pearl GTL project is on schedule and expected to start up by the end of the decade,” according to Shell. This incredible project will employ 35,000 workers during the construction phase . At what stage is this GTL project now ? How will Shell expect to see  a return on investment ?

Commitment of other global players and recent breakthroughs in GTL Technology - GTLF1, PetroSa, StatoilHydro, ENI.

What & where are the other major GTL projects that are coming up ? . What is the plan of the major oil & gas companies to invest in GTL over the next 20 years ? Which countries are highest probabilities for allowing GTL projects to be completed on their soil ? Perspective from Iran, Trinidad & Tobago, Australia, Papua New Guinea

Future of financing for GTL projects

Project costs are affecting the whole industry, not just GTL but also refining, LNG, petrochemicals. With the credit squeeze, what is the views from international bankers regarding how they feel about GTL lending ?

GTL trends - interest in Small to Mid Sized GTL applications.

With the surge in domestic gas projects from LNG, pipeline to building a fleet of gas-fired power stations this has led to rising concerns on the gas supply issues for the GTL projects  in Qatar. Where else will we see development of major field’s like the Qatar North Field, or is it really time for smaller remote locations that many have been posturing to develop ?

Driving GTL Costs down

An interesting concept in these cost conscious times is to buy equipment at scrap value and relocate/re-engineer as Ventech is doing for World GTL. Would this be an ideal solution ? Will it set the  the precedent for developing other small & remote GTL production sites ?

Carbon Efficient GTL processes

The energy and carbon efficiencies of GTL remains a technical challenge. Sasol Technologies will share with us next generation technologies that will see improvements in carbon efficient GTL processes. Argonne Laboratory will give a comparative analysis of the greenhouse gas emissions from the production and use of GTL, CTL & BTL.

Challenges in  management of waste process water and recycling of industrial effluents from the Pearl GTL project

Abundant Networking Opportunities ! Meet the key decision makers in the industry.

Pre-Conference - 17 Feb 08’ - FISCHER-TROPSCH Workshop

PROGRAM

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO FISCHER-TROPSCH
This section is oriented to the delegates that are not directly involved in the technical aspects of the conversion of syngas to liquid fuels.

It will be a 90 minutes session dealing with aspects such as typical Fischer-Tropsch catalysts, selectivity of the primary Fischer-Tropsch products, reactors (including cooling and catalyst/wax separation, when applicable), hydrotreating,  hydrocracking (including selectivities) and final product properties.

FUTURE GTL (or CTL, BTL) PLANTS CAPACITY 
Medium and small size capacity plants as compared to the current large plants approach. Is there room for smaller plants?
• Is there Fischer-Tropsch technology available for emerging GTL/CTL/BTL small companies?
• Technological approach for small projects as compared to large ones.  Possible differences between them.

DESIGN RELIABILITY OF THE FISCHER-TROPSCH SECTION & CAPITAL INVESTMENT
Identification of the main technological challenges to meet the plant design productivity in a short time.
• Potential problems during the reactors start-up and shut-down : Slurry and fixed bed reactors
• Unplanned shutdowns : Slurry and fixed bed reactors 
• Primary and secondary catalyst/wax separation for Slurry Bed Reactors
• Other potential technological problems

The purpose of this discussion is to identify whether these potential problems can be avoided or minimized by means of e.g. more robust or redundant designs and the effect on the overall investment and project economics.

FIXED VERSUS SLURRY BED REACTORS
An updated comparison for the two reactors.
• Effect of the plant capacity on the selection of the Fischer-Tropsch reactor
• Technological risks for both approaches

DEVELOPMENT OF CATALYSTS FOR FIXED AND SLURRY BED REACTORS 
How the approach is different for these two catalysts and the constraints and degrees of freedom for both.
• Effect of the catalyst particle size (mm for fixed bed vs µm for slurry bed)
• Influence of the reactor heat transfer characteristics on the catalyst design
• Desired catalyst properties for both reactors

The participants will have the opportunity to suggest topics for discussion within the main categories. A form will be distributed for this purpose during registration.

Letter from the Workshop Leader

The interest in the conversion of syngas (from different carbon sources) to liquid fuels is still in the increase. 

New plants under construction like Shell’s Pearl GTL projects (fixed bed reactor, targeting a total of 140 000 bpd) and Sasol Chevron Escravos GTL project (slurry bed reactor, targeting a total of 34 000 ppd) are using their more advanced catalyst and reactor technologies.

On the other hand, now more than ever new synfuels companies are emerging, targeting medium and small size plants.  An example of one of such projects, and currently under construction is the 2 250 barrels per day World GTL Trinidad Ltd project in Trinidad, based on fixed bed reactor technology.

This year workshop will try to address topical issues for both large and small size plants, such as the technology available for small companies and whether there is a difference in the technological approach as a function of the plant size, potential problems during the start-up period and differences in the development of catalysts for both fixed and slurry bed reactors.   Because of the fact that more capacity is currently being developed for fixed rather than for slurry bed reactors, this year workshop will have more fixed bed reactors content that last year’s one.

In this way, we expect to provide some clarity about the different options available for this technology and to contribute towards its successful development and implementation.

I look forward to meeting you at this workshop.

Thank You

Rafael L Espinoza

WORKSHOP LEADERS

Dr Rafael L Espinoza
Dr Espinoza has been involved in the field of GTL for most of his professional life. He was director of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) R&D at ConocoPhillips (2000-2005) and responsible for the technical development of the FT and Hydroprocessing technologies, including catalyst development and preparation scale-up, modeling, process development, reactor technology and products.
At Sasol (1986-2000), he had the positions of Sasol Research Fellow, Manager of Basic Catalysis Research and Sections Leader for high and low temperature FT at the Process Development Dept. Some of the projects in which he was involved include the development of catalysts for Slurry, Fixed and Fluidized bed reactors, development of a Slurry bed reactor for FT (coordinator 1986-1989), commercial plants support, optimization of conceptual designs for new FT plants, optimization of the configuration of the Sasol plant in Sasolburg, etc.
Dr Espinoza was also Sr. Chief Research Officer at CSIR in South Africa where he worked on catalyst development in the fields of acid catalysis, supported transition metals and FT.
He has numerous refereed papers and over 45 granted US patents in the field of synthetic fuels. In 2005 he started a consulting company (RafaelEspinoza.com).

Dr Espinoza will be assisted by Philip Gibson

Phillip Gibson
Mr Gibson is the Manager of Fischer-Tropsch Catalysis Research at the Sasol Technology Research & Development Divison in South Africa.
He is an MSc graduate in Physical Chemistry from the University of Johannesburg, in 1989 and joined Sasol’s Corporate R&D facility in 1992.  He was a Visiting Scientist at the Institute for Technical & Petroleum Chemistry, Aachen, Germany 1994/95

His Career Focus Areas are :
• Development of Fe-based slurry phase catalyst for CTL application in Sasolburg
• Development of Co-based slurry phase catalyst for global GTL application
• Development of novel Fe-based catalyst for syngas to chemicals application in High Temperature Fischer-Tropsch (CTL)