In its International Energy Outlook for 2008, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that global energy consumption will grow by 50% between 2005 and 2030. Total global transportation fuel production is expected to reach 93 MMbbl/d by 2020, with 5 MMbbl/d coming from biofuels, gas-to-liquids (GTL) and coal-to-liquids (CTL) processes alone.
And, fluctuating oil prices, natural gas supply concerns, and the global push to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are all driving the gasification industry forward at an unprecedented pace. Currently, governments and businesses alike are investing billions in research and development for advanced gasification technologies.
Unconventional resources, like CTL, for example, are becoming increasingly necessary. World production of unconventional resources totaled only 2.5 MMbbl/d in 2005, yet is expected to increase to at least 9.7 MMbbl/d by 2030, accounting for some 9% of total world liquids supply on an oil-equivalent basis.
Gasification technology could provide solutions to higher transportation fuel costs, both on the ground and in the air. Chemical producers predict that synthesis gas will continue to be a cheaper feedstock than natural gas, and many countries plan to utilize advanced gasification processes to solve hazardous and municipal solid waste problems, as well as landfill overflows.
In countries like China, India, and the United States, each of which holds extensive coal reserves, investment decisions are being finalized to pursue large-scale gasification projects to help satisfy expanding baseload power demand and ease inflation of transportation fuel prices.
The level of new activity in technologies that gasify a wide range of feedstocks, or have the ability to co-feed coal and petroleum coke (or coal and biomass feedstock blends), has taken a significant uptick over the past 18 months. And, most importantly, companies capable of developing and commercializing innovative, modularly-designed gasifiers with wide ranging application will be the real winners.
