About 45 minutes east of Calgary, in the hamlet of Carseland, Canada’s first commercial-scale gas-to-liquids facility is churning out premium synthetic fuels.
Alas, the company next door went bankrupt while Rocky Mountain was under construction, Mr. Geeraert said, so his company ended up tying into the nearby TransCanada gas supply. “It’s certainly going to be welcome when it comes, and we’ll be able to put it towards lots of further capital improvements,” Mr. Geeraert said in an interview Wednesday.
Mr. Geerhaert said the technology is already seeing interest from around the globe, including jurisdictions that import their diesel but have significant natural gas resources. “Beyond that, the facility provides a tremendous way to transition to renewable fuels as well. And so that can be done with time,” Mr. Geeraert said.The Carseland facility can produce up to 25 million litres of synthetic diesel annually. Derived from natural gas, it’s a cleaner-burning, biodegradable alternative to traditional petroleum diesel with no sulfur and significantly reduced particulate emissions.
The company says the process is also ideal for the application of carbon capture, which would further reduce the plant’s environmental footprint.