The Sasol Coal To Oil Revolution

While oil prices rise above $115/barrel industry companies are looking to alternatives. But some of the alternatives burn dirtier than oil. One of these is coal-to-oil technology. . Sasol officials acknowledge their facilities emit greenhouse gases and that building more coal-to-liquids facilities around the world "could have potentially significant implications, in the long run, for our commitment to reducing carbon intensity," according to a recent company report on its social and environmental programs.
To be fair, Sasol does have future plans with newer technologies which they claim will trap carbon dioxide instead of emitting it but their projection is only a 10% decrease in pollutants by 2015.
To many South Africans, Sasol is a huge success story. The company's daily production now meets about 30 percent of South Africa's transport-fuel needs. The country's 50-rand bank note even features a picture of one of Sasol's plants.
Coal-to-oil technology dates back to the 1920s, when two German chemists, Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, developed a process to convert coal into a gas and then use it to make synthetic fuels. Coal-to-oil technology helped fuel the Nazi war machine, which lacked access to sufficient crude oil. International oil companies also experimented with the process but put it aside because oil was cheaper.
In South Africa, though, circumstances were perfect for exploring Coal-to-oil. There was not much oil around. There was plenty of coal and it had very limited value on the market. In 1950, the government set up Sasol as a state-owned company and authorized funding for its first project, a coal-to-liquids facility called Sasolburg in the South African countryside.
By the time the facilities were completed in the early 1980s, international oil prices were collapsing. The project was nonetheless a success for the white-dominated apartheid government because international sanctions were restricting South Africa's ability to buy foreign oil. Sasol had become 75% privatized by 1979 and their plants managed to stay profitable by continually boosting efficiency and expanding their end products to include plastics, fertilizers and explosives.
Today, Secunda is reminiscent of the oil boom towns from the early industrial age in America, the facilities are huge, which is an understatement and there are 16000 people working for the company and 35000 total in the town along with a BMW dealer, a Casino hotel with the name Graceland and more trappings

While Sasol would charge a fee for licensing its technology, its main interest is to share ownership in the facilities once they're built because it wants a share of the long-term profits. In China, Sasol is asking for a 50 percent equity stake in the projects. A Shenhua official says negotiations are going smoothly and the company hopes to begin construction soon.
Sasol officials say they're interested in Montana and other potential sites in the U.S., provided they can find a suitable partner and receive tax or other incentives. Coal-to-oil "is coming to the United States," Gov. Schweitzer proclaims. When it does, he says, other countries "will be scrambling to protect their oil supplies -- and we'll be energy independent."
So, while Sasol is making a killing what does the average South African citizen do in order to fight back against inflation and rapidly rising gas prices? There is a solution.
WATER4GAS is sharing information for a nominal fee which folks can use in their garage or wherever to build a small device which instills hydrogen into the fuel/air mixture that their vehicle runs on.
Using Water4Gas you can reasonably expect to improve your fuel economy by thirty to fifty percent or significantly more. With W4G gasoline is made usable so you can improve your fuel economy.
It also helps make emissions significantly cleaner.Happy members number about 99%! Isn't it your turn now?

Article Source: http://www.rightarticle.com

Ozzie Freedom, Water4Gas founder, is a "computer geek" and all his knowledge about cars is from actually digging into the engine of his own car and doing things rather than "schooling". Discover one of the best alternative fuel solutions

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated