Synthetic fuels
Synthetic fuel or synfuel is a liquid fuel, or sometimes gaseous fuel, obtained from syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, in which the syngas was derived from gasification of solid feedstocks such as coal or biomass or by reforming of natural gas.
Common methods for manufacturing synthetic fuels include the Fischer Tropsch conversion,methanol to gasoline conversion, or direct coal liquefaction.
As of July 2009, worldwide commercial synthetic fuels production capacity was over 240,000 barrels per day (38,000 m3/d), with numerous new projects in construction or development.
The term 'synthetic fuel' has several different meanings and it may include different types of fuels. More traditional definitions, e.g. definition given by the International Energy Agency, define 'synthetic fuel' as any liquid fuel obtained from coal or natural gas. The Energy Information Administration defines synthetic fuels in its Annual Energy Outlook 2006, as fuels produced from coal, natural gas, or biomass through chemical conversion into synthetic crude and/or synthetic liquid products. A number of synthetic fuel's definitions include fuels produced from biomass, and industrial and municipal waste. The definition of synthetic fuel also allows oil sands and oil shale as synthetic fuel sources, and in addition to liquid fuels, synthesized gaseous fuels are also considered to be synthetic fuels: in his 'Synthetic fuels handbook' petrochemist James G. Speight included liquid and gaseous fuels as well as clean solid fuels produced by conversion of coal, oil shale or tar sands, and various forms of biomass, although he admits that in the context of substitutes for petroleum-based fuels it has even wider meaning. Depending on the context, methanol, ethanol and hydrogen may also be included.
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