Thats not entirely true. The problem is that it isnt economically feasable yet.


Since the invention of the original process by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in the 1920s, many refinements and adjustments have been made. The term "Fischer-Tropsch" now applies to a wide variety of similar processes (Fischer-Tropsch synthesis or Fischer-Tropsch chemistry). Fischer and Tropsch filed a number of patents, e.g., US patent no. 1,746,464, applied 1926, published 1930.[8] It was commercialized in Germany in 1936. Being petroleum-poor but coal-rich, in Germany the FT-process was used by Nazi Germany and Japan during World War II to produce ersatz (German: substitute) fuels. F-T production accounted for an estimated 9% of German war production of fuels and 25% of the automobile fuel.[9]
The United States Bureau of Mines, in a program initiated by the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act, employed seven Operation Paperclip synthetic fuel scientists in a Fischer-Tropsch plant in Louisiana, Missouri in 1946.[10][9]
In Britain, Alfred August Aicher obtained several patents for improvements to the process in the 1930s and 1940s.[11] Aicher's company was named Synthetic Oils Ltd. (Now based in Canada.)
[edit] Commercialization


Fluidized bed gasification with FT-pilot in Güssing, Burgenland, Austria


The F-T process has been applied on a large scale in some industrial sectors, although its popularity is hampered by high capital costs, high operation and maintenance costs, the uncertain and volatile price of crude oil, and environmental concerns. In particular, the use of natural gas as a feedstock only becomes practical when using "stranded gas", i.e. sources of natural gas far from major cities which are impractical to exploit with conventional gas pipelines and LNG technology; otherwise, the direct sale of natural gas to consumers would become much more profitable. Several companies are developing the process to enable practical exploitation of so-called stranded gas reserves.
[edit] Sasol

The largest scale implementation of F-T technology are in a series of plants operated by Sasol in South Africa, a country with large coal reserves but lacking in oil. Sasol uses coal and now natural gas as feedstocks and produces a variety of synthetic petroleum products, including most of the country's diesel fuel.[12]
[edit] Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis

One of the largest implementations of F-T technology is in Bintulu, Malaysia. This Shell facility converts natural gas into low-sulfur diesel fuels and food-grade wax. The scale is 12,000 barrels per day.
[edit] Ras Laffan, Qatar

The new LTFT facility scheduled to commission in 2010 at Ras Laffan, Qatar is based on the Sasol technology, using cobalt catalysts at 230 °C. It includes the "Dolphin Gas Project" plant, converting natural gas to petroleum liquids at a rate of 140,000 barrels/day, with additional production of 120,000 barrels of oil equivalent in natural gas liquids and ethane.
[edit] UPM (Finland)

In October 2006, Finnish paper and pulp manufacturer UPM announced its plans to produce biodiesel by Fischer–Tropsch process alongside the manufacturing processes at its European paper and pulp plants, using waste biomass resulted by paper and pulp manufacturing processes as source material.[13]
[edit] Rentech (Colorado, USA)

A demonstration scale F-T plant is owned and operated by Rentech Inc in partnership with ClearFuels, a company specializing in biomass gasification. Located in Commerce City, Colorado (U.S.), the facility produces about 10 barrels per day of fuels from natural gas. Commercial scale facilities are planned for Rialto, California and Natchez, Mississippi.[14]
[edit] Other

In the US, some coal-producing states have invested in F-T plants. In Pennsylvania, Waste Management and Processors Inc. was funded by the state to implement F-T technology licensed from Shell and Sasol to convert so-called waste coal (leftovers from the mining process) into low-sulfur diesel fuel.[15][16]
[edit] Research developments

Choren Industries has built an FT plant in Germany that converts biomass to syngas and fuels using the Shell F-T process.[17][18]
[edit] U.S. Air Force certification

Syntroleum, a publicly traded US company (Nasdaq: SYNM) has produced over 400,000 gallons of diesel and jet fuel from the Fischer–Tropsch process using natural gas and coal at its demonstration plant near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Syntroleum is working to commercialize its licensed Fischer-Tropsch technology via coal-to-liquid plants in the US, China, and Germany, as well as gas-to-liquid plants internationally. Using natural gas as a feedstock, the ultra-clean, low sulfur fuel has been tested extensively by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Most recently, Syntroleum has been working with the U.S. Air Force to develop a synthetic jet fuel blend that will help the Air Force to reduce its dependence on imported petroleum. The Air Force, which is the U.S. military's largest user of fuel, began exploring alternative fuel sources in 1999. On December 15, 2006, a B-52 took off from Edwards AFB, California for the first time powered solely by a 50-50 blend of JP-8 and Syntroleum's FT fuel. The seven-hour flight test was considered a success. The goal of the flight test program is to qualify the fuel blend for fleet use on the service's B-52s, and then flight test and qualification on other aircraft. The test program concluded in 2007. This program is part of the Department of Defense Assured Fuel Initiative, an effort to develop secure domestic sources for the military energy needs. The Pentagon hopes to reduce its use of crude oil from foreign producers and obtain about half of its aviation fuel from alternative sources by 2016.[19] With the B-52 now approved to use the FT blend, the C-17 Globemaster III, the B-1B, and eventually every airframe in its inventory to use the fuel by 2011.[19][20]