Synthetic liquid hydrocarbons could replace conventional fuels and would be equally easy for consumers to use. We are keeping a close watch on developments in this area, while also conducting hydrogen fuel cell R&D.

Synthetic liquid hydrocarbons

One promising avenue for producing synthetic liquid hydrocarbons is through an intermediate synthetic gas derived from natural gas, coal or biomass. The synthetic gas could then be converted into fuels, lubricants, base chemicals, dimethyl ether (DME) or olefins (Methanol To Olefins, or MTO).

Gas To Liquids (GTL) is a process to chemically convert natural gas into environmentally friendly liquid petroleum products, such as naphtha, diesel and lubricants. However, the GTL process needs to become more energy efficient to minimize the amount of natural gas used and to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Biomass To Liquids (BTL) is a process to produce second-generation biofuels. The process is divided into a number of stages: biomass gasification, treatment and purification of gasifier effluent streams, and synthesis of liquid hydrocarbons using the Fischer Tropsch process, methanol or DME. There is a wide variety of options for selecting raw materials, pretreatment, gasification, and treatment and upgrading of the syngas. When agricultural and forest residues and waste are used, BTL delivers a more positive greenhouse gas performance than first-generation biofuels, but entails greater technical and production complexity.

DME is a liquefied gas synthesized from natural gas or other conversion process gases, with physical properties similar to those of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). In June 2007, construction began in Japan of a unit to produce DME by means of methanol dehydration. Initiated by Fuel DME Production Co, in which Total is a 10% shareholder, the project aims to assess and develop the Japanese market for this new fuel. The unit has come on stream in 2008 and will produce up to 80,000 metric tons a year of DME propellant gas and fuel DME.

In the Methanol To Olefins (MTO) process, methanol is converted into ethylene, propylene and heavier olefins, which are also transformed into ethylene and propylene using the olefin cracking process. Partnering with UOP LLC, Total Petrochemicals started up a demonstration MTO plant in 2007. It supplies light olefins to a pilot polymerization unit at Total’s Feluy Research Center in Belgium.

Hydrogen fuel cell technology

Hydrogen is an energy carrier. One of its main attractions is that it can be obtained from a number of sources, including hydrocarbon reforming; syngas from biomass, coal or petroleum residue; and electrolysis of water using power generated by wind, water or photovoltaic solar cells. Hydrogen can be used to generate secondary energies such as heat and power or to replace electricity in portable electronics like cell phones and laptops. On the other hand, its wide-scale use in transportation still has a number of economic and technological hurdles to clear, such as retail infrastructure and onboard storage.

It is virtually impossible to separate hydrogen development from fuel cell technology, which produces electricity by combining available hydrogen with oxygen from the air. It is a clean process whose only reaction byproduct is water, and therefore helps to reduce CO2 emissions and other types of pollutants, such as NOx, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.

We are developing our activities in this promising field through an active research and partnership policy that includes:

• in the transportation sector, setting up the first components of a hydrogen fuel marketing infrastructure with two retail outlets in Germany and a third scheduled to open in another European country in early 2008. The first, in Berlin, refuels the hydrogen demonstrator cars manufactured by automakers who belong to the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) as well as the MAN hydrogen bus fleet used for regular service by the Berlin transit authority, BVG, as part of the HyFLEET :CUTE project. The second service station opened in Munich in November 2006. It supplies liquid hydrogen fuel to the BMW 7 series hydrogen car under a partnership agreement between BMW and Total.
• in stationary power applications, the Group is testing two fuel cells in a Berlin service station in Germany, after earlier conducting a similar project at the Le Roeulx service station in Belgium. The electricity produced is channeled to the grid and the hot water is used at the station.