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Natural gas as a building block for the chemical and petrochemical industries in Israel – a re-visit of the Fischer-Tropsch process

The natural gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean, near the shores of Israel, including the gas wells of Tamar, Leviathan, Karish and Tanin, may exceed 900 BCM, and it is estimated that the potential of this region altogether is about 2000 BCM. The current consumption of natural gas in Israel was only 10.5 BCM in 2017, and the potential utilization in the next 20-25 years will probably be no more than 15-20 BCM annually, for generation of electricity, for the major source of power and energy for the industry and as transportation fuel (in the form of CNG = Compressed Natural Gas), combined. Those figures fueled up a public discussion whether to export the rest of the gas or save it for the future generations. Another option, which was hardly mentioned, is the creation and construction of chemical and petrochemical industry, which are based on this “blue and white” natural resource as the building block.

Industrial products, that are made from natural gas, include methanol (as a solvent, as a chemical reagent and potentially as a gasoline component), ammonia, which is the source for N-based fertilizers such as potassium nitrate and ammonium salts, dimethyl-ether, which is mentioned as a substitute for the fossil diesel fuel, and others. Natural gas is also the precursor for “traditional” fuels, gasoline, jet fuel and diesel, that are produced in parts of the world as GTL (=Gas to Liquids), by the famous Fischer-Tropsch process. This presentation will re-visit the almost 100 year long reaction and its’ utilization worldwide. It will feature the advantages and the current setbacks of the process, and also reflect the author’s pessimistic approach about the prospects of those applications in Israel of today.