Word: sasol
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...With the price of crude at one point this year reaching $147 per bbl., interest in alternative sources of oil is unprecedented. A big part of that interest comes from the U.S., India and China, which all rely on oil imports and have massive coal reserves. Feasibility studies for Sasol to build two plants in China, each projected to produce 80,000 bbl. a day by 2012, are at an advanced stage. In the U.S., Sasol is courting interest from several states, including Montana, Illinois and Wyoming, as well as the U.S. military, which is attracted by the security advantage...
...Agency, an energy think tank in Paris, says his group expects coal-to-liquids and gas-to-liquids to account for 10% to 15% of world fuel supply by 2050. Even capturing 1% of world oil demand would mean an output of millions of barrels a day--several times Sasol's current global production. Susan Barrows, a chemist and an energy expert at Harrisburg University in Harrisburg, Pa., reckons that given U.S. coal stocks, the country should be able to produce enough oil from coal to replace 30% of its imports. For Davies, the logic of such figures is undeniable...
...course, nothing's ever that simple in the energy business. Sasol's end product is cleaner than the average diesel fuel or gasoline, emitting less sulfur and less nitrogen when it burns, says Barrows. Coal-to-liquid plants can also be used to clean up the mountains of coal left over at old mines. But in terms of carbon emissions, Fischer-Tropsch is dirty. A sliding scale of emissions from fossil fuels, goes: coal, petroleum, methane. Coal emits the most carbon dioxide per unit of energy obtained. The resultant fuel also emits more carbon dioxide when burned...
...energy company like Sasol to thrive using current technology, "public opinion would have to decide carbon emissions are a necessary evil to bring down the cost of fuel in the short term until more sustainable sources of fuel are discovered," says Barrows. Krupp is blunter. "In order for Sasol to have a profitable future, we have to be cynical about the world's ability to save itself," he says. But Sasol is used to these kinds of dilemmas. "There is a tension here," Davies acknowledges. "All development makes pollution. But China and India want what the West has, so they...
Capturing Energy To see more of Benedicte Kurzen's photos of Sasol operations, go to time.com/sasol