State-owned Turkmengaz has started up the world’s largest methanol plant based on Haldor Topsoe AS’s proprietary SynCOR autothermal reforming methanol-conversion technology at the operator’s recently commissioned natural gas-to-gasoline complex at Ovadan-Depe near Ashgabad, Turkmenistan (OGJ Online, Apr. 29, 2016; Aug. 26, 2014).
Located within the gas-to-gasoline complex, the 5,225-tonne/day methanol plant has progressively ramped up production as planned, with all performance targets met, since the complex’s official commissioning in mid-2019, Topsoe said on Jan. 14.
Officially entered into operation in June 2019, Turkmengaz’s gas-to-gasoline complex uses Topsoe Improved Gasoline Synthesis (Tigas)—involving a combination of SynCOR Methanol technology with a gasoline synthesis loop—to produce 15,500-b/d of synthetic gasoline conforming to Euro 5-quality standards, according to the service provider.
Late in 2019, Turkmengaz signed a memorandum of understanding with Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. and Sojitz Corp. for design and construction of a second gas-to-gasoline complex, also presumably to be based on Topsoe’s Tigas technology, the government of Turkmenistan said in Nov. 11, 2019, and Oct. 24, 2019, releases.
In 2016, the government of Turkmenistan valued the cost of the Ovadan-Depe gas-to-gasoline complex at $1.7 billion.
Robert Brelsford | Downstream Editor
Robert Brelsford joined Oil & Gas Journal in October 2013 as downstream technology editor after 8 years as a crude oil price and news reporter on spot crude transactions at the US Gulf Coast, West Coast, Canadian, and Latin American markets. He holds a BA (2000) in English from Rice University and an MS (2003) in education and social policy from Northwestern University.