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Concept
Synthetic fuel
Summary
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 ways for refining synthetic fuels include the Fischer–Tropsch conversion, methanol to gasoline conversion, or direct coal liquefaction.
The term 'synthetic fuel' or 'synfuel' has several different meanings and it may include different types of fuels. More traditional definitions define 'synthetic fuel' or 'synfuel' as a hydrocarbon produced by a sequence of chemical reactions to synthesize the fuel from a feedstock, typically from coal or natural gas, rather by selecting the hydrocarbon by distillation from crude oil. In its Annual Energy Outlook 2006, the Energy Information Administration defines synthetic fuels as fuels produced from coal, natural gas, or biomass feedstocks 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. These definitions also allow oil sands and oil shale to be understood as synthetic fuel sources. 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 in this category.
Synthetic fuels are produced by the chemical process of conversion. Conversion methods could be direct conversion into liquid transportation fuels, or indirect conversion, in which the source substance is converted initially into syngas which then goes through additional conversion process to become liquid fuels.
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