Nacero Luzerne GTL Plant
While Nacero has proposed four gas-to-liquids refineries in the United States, none have advanced to construction. In 2020, the company pulled plans to build a proposed plant in Arizona that would have begun construction in 2021. Nacero gave local officials no explanation other than they were reordering which plants it is building. However, the Arizona site is no longer included in the company’s list of facilities on its website.
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Nacero is proposing to build a massive gas-to-liquids refinery that would turn fracked shale gas into synthetic gasoline.The refinery is proposed to be built in Newport Township, Luzerne County, just southwest of Wilkes-Barre. Nacero has made statements claiming that its new refinery would produce environmentally-friendly gasoline. However, if this refinery is similar to Nacero's proposed Texas project, the Luzerne County facility would be the third highest emitter of greenhouse gases in Pennsylvania and among the top emitters of other harmful pollutants.
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Rendering of Nacero's planned Pennsylvania refinery. Credit: Nacero
Gas-to-liquids: Methanol to Gasoline (MTG) Process
The company plans to market two gasoline products, which it will call “Nacero Blue” and “Nacero Green.” Nacero Blue is made from fracked gas whereas Nacero Green is described as being made from gases from agricultural sites, landfills, and waste treatment facilities. The products are likely to be identical because Nacero plans to combine its gas feedstocks together.
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According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas-to-liquids (GTL) is a process that converts natural gas to liquid fuels, including gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel. The processes that Nacero claims are cutting edge are not new. The methanol to gasoline (MTG) process Nacero proposes to use was developed by Exxonmobil in 1975 as an alternative to the similar but older Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process developed nearly a century ago.
The MTG process converts natural gas into syngas, which is a mixture of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. According to the EIA, syngas is scrubbed to remove impurities such as sulfur, water, and carbon dioxide. This is then taken and reacted with hydrogen with carbon monoxide to form different liquid hydrocarbons. The final step is to further process the liquid hydrocarbons into fuel like gasoline. In Nacero's case, methanol is the liquid hydrocarbon that would be converted into gasoline. Methanol is a highly flammable liquid alcohol used industrially in fuels, solvents, and pesticides.
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Methanol-to-gasoline process diagram developed by ExxonMobil. Source: National Energy Technology Lab
The capacity for methanol generation has been growing worldwide, with several plants in the US, mostly in the gulf coast region, and a large fraction of worldwide capacity in China where it is used as a gasoline additive or alternative, or for gasoline production. Some of the methanol from these plants is converted on-site into gasoline using the Exxonmobil MTG process or other similar chemical processes. Though methanol has been produced in the US for over 25 years, recently natural gas to methanol and methanol to gasoline has become more financially viable. Natural gas producers see MTG as a way to take advantage of low natural gas to now-increasing oil prices. While these facilities are, so far, not very common, they are expanding and planned capacity is increasing every year.
Other Proposed Facilities
Penwell, Texas
Rendering of Nacero's planned Texas refinery in Penwell. Credit: Nacero
Kingman, Arizona (Recently abandoned plans to develop)
Rendering of Nacero's planned Arizona refinery in Kingman. Credit: Nacero