Discussion on:

Shell spends $19 billion to convert natural gas to clean diesel

Its ironic, given the header " ... natural gas to clean Diesel", that a number of public transit agencies have converted buses from dirty Diesel to clean natural gas.

The idea of reforming natural gas into carbon monoxide and hydrogen, followed by synthesis with the aid of a catalyst, is already being used to produce billions of gallons of methanol every year at giant facilities like Methanex's Trinidad facility, where NG is available at a favorable price. From what I understand, middle east nations which have substantial natural gas resources, have also been into producing methanol for world markets.

The combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide is like the proverbial magician's hat. You can get anything out of it you want, if you use the right catalyst and reaction conditions. So its normal that Shell and other firms, invest capital in production facilities to produce Diesel fuel, jet fuel, and chemicals using NG as the basic raw material.

You could liquify natural gas and ship it from where its available in abundance to where its in demand, then use it directly for applications such as transit buses. But liquids like clean Diesel or jet fuel, are easier to transport on ships than LNG. So that at least partially makes up for the inefficiency of the NG to liquid fuel Fischer-Tropsh synthesis process.

What I'd like to see, is some way by which one could attach an oxygen atom to methane for direct conversion to methanol. That would open up an entirely new path for monetarization of natural gas in remote locations.

What a waste!! Esp. since the trend is to run vehicles on gas and electricity. Not to mention burn gas vs. coal in power stations!