Page 13 - Synthetic Fuels Handbook

2 CHAPTER ONE

30
27.65

25 U.S. consumption 20.74 Imports
Million barrels per day 15 38% Includes finished 65% includes
20
18.00

finished
12.11
products
10

8.63 products 9.65
5 U.S. production
(includes crude, NGLs,
and refinery gains) 2004
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030
Source: U.S. DOE EIA “Annual energy outlook 2006.”
FIGURE 1.1 Abbreviated history of consumption and production of petroleum and petroleum products
in the United States.

For the purposes of this book, alternate fuels or synthetic fuels include liquid and gas-
eous fuels, as well as clean solid fuels, produced by the conversion of coal, oil shale or tar
sands, and various forms of biomass. Such fuels are making headway into the fuel balance.
For example, biodiesel from plant sources is similar to diesel, but has differences that
include higher cetane rating (45–60 compared to 45–50 for petroleum-derived diesel) and it
acts as a cleaning agent to get rid of dirt and deposits. As with alcohols and petrol engines,
taking advantage of the high cetane number of biodiesel potentially overcomes the energy
deficit compared to ordinary number 2 diesel.
In addition, coal (coal-to-liquids), natural gas (gas-to-liquids), and oil shale (shale-to-
liquids) have been touted for decades. At this time, the potential for liquid fuels from
various types of biomass is also seeing prominence (Chap. 8). Shortages of the supply of
petroleum and the wish for various measures of energy independence are a growing part of
the national psyche of many countries (Freeman, 2007).
However, the production of liquid fuels from sources other than petroleum has a check-
ered history. The on-again-off-again efforts that are the result of political maneuvering
has seen to it that the race to secure self-sufficiency by the production of nonconventional
fuels has never got much further than the starting gate! This is due in no small part to the
price fluctuations of crude oil (i.e., gasoline) and the lack of foresight by various levels of
government. It must be realized that for decades the price of petroleum has always been
maintained at a level that was sufficiently low to discourage the establishment of a synthetic
fuels industry. However, we are close to the time when the lack of preparedness for the
production of nonconventional fuels may set any national government on its heels.
The dynamics are now coming into place for the establishment of a synthetic fuels
industry and it is up to various levels of government not only to promote the establishment
of such an industry but to lead the way recognizing that dynamics are not only supply and
demand but the available and variable technology. For example, the technology of the tar sand
industry and the oil shale industry is not the 1970s. The processes for recovery of the raw