Nacero lets contract for proposed Texas GTG plant

Update: In May 2021, Nacero let a contract to Bechtel Corp. to provide engineering and construction for a newly proposed natural gas-to-gasoline (GTG) plant to be built in Penwell, Ector County, Tex., in the heart of the Permian basin (OGJ Online, May 27, 2021).

Nacero Inc., Houston, has let a contract to Haldor Topsoe AS to license process technology for a newly proposed natural gas-to-gasoline (GTG) plant to be built in Penwell, Ector County, Tex.

As part of the contract, Haldor Topsoe will deliver licensing of its Topsoe Improved Gasoline Synthesis (Tigas) GTG technology, basic engineering, design, catalysts, and proprietary hardware for a Tigas upgrading unit at the Penwell plant that, once in operation, will use a feedstock of low-cost natural gasoline, biomethane captured from farms and landfills, and mitigated flared gas from the Permian basin to produce 100,000 b/d of finished gasoline component ready for blending to US commercial grades, the service provider said on Apr. 22.

The Tigas unit at Penwell—which will incorporate six Topsoe proprietary SynCOR Methanol autothermal reforming units—also will enable the planned GTG plant to produce more than 30,000 tonnes/day of methanol for further processing into zero-sulfur, cost-competitive gasoline, leaving the operator only a byproduct of purified water that, in turn, will be recovered and used to supply 80% of the plant’s makeup water, according to Topsoe.

Nacero—which selected Tigas primarily for its proven results in an identical unit of scale operating since 2019 at state-owned Turkmengaz’s GTG complex at Ovadan-Depe near Ashgabad, Turkmenistan—said the technology will enable the GTG plant to cut both the production cost and lifecycle carbon footprint of everyday transportation fuel by 50% compared to traditional, petroleum-derived fuel, as well as eliminate 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions into the atmosphere during its first 30 years of operation (OGJ Online, Jan. 14, 2020).

The contract award follows a separate Apr. 22 release from Nacero and Odessa Development Corp. announcing the proposed $6.5-7.5-billion Penwell GTG plant that, once in operation, will be the first in the US to produce gasoline from natural gas, as well as the first in the world to incorporate carbon capture and sequestration.

The plant’s sequestered CO₂ will be transported via an existing on-site pipeline for use in enhanced oil recovery, Nacero said.

Alongside gasoline, the Penwell GTG plant also will produce blue hydrogen (see accompanying box) and will receive all of its electricity from renewable sources, much of which will be produced on-site from solar panels colocated with the processing and production installations on the 2,600-acre site, according to the operator.

Nacero—which will build the plant in two phases—said construction on the Penwell GTG project is slated to begin by yearend.

The operator, however, did not disclose a definitive timeframe for startup of either Phase 1’s 70,000-b/d capacity or Phase 2’s 30,000-b/d capacity.

Topsoe and Nacero have already entered an agreement under which Topsoe will supply its technology and catalysts for Nacero’s other US GTG plants, which currently include proposed projects in Arizona and the Marcellus basin of Pennsylvania (OGJ Online, Mar. 26, 2020).