Oklahoma GTL Plant Fault Identified

Velocys, a UK-based technology provider for small gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants, said July 4 one of two reactors at a plant it helped build in Oklahoma City remains shut six weeks ago, but a second is operating.

The Envia Energy-owned unit at Oklahoma City had one of its reactors removed from operation, following an internal leak in a Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reactor that was announced May 15; that reactor is still not operating and is undergoing analysis by Envia's insurers as it processes a claim. Velocys says the unit is continuing to operate using its second Velocys FT reactor.

Envia has since investigated the leak and says the ancillary coolant system was the root cause of the leak; it has since implemented modifications to rectify a design flaw in that system in the second reactor too. The second reactor has now operated successfully without incident through the same cycle through which the first reactor was operating when the leak was detected.

Velocys said July 4 this finding proves that "the root cause of the leak in the first reactor was a design flaw in the ancillary coolant system and not the result of any flaw in the core Velocys FT technology."  It says it continues to support Envia and remains committed to the plant, which uses landfill gas as feedstock.

Five years ago Velocys and UK rival Compact GTL were among a small number of technology pioneers looking to help develop GTL projects around the world, using stranded natural or shale gas as feedstock. But the oil price slump, and resultant collapse in investment, have meant such firms instead are now looking to tap projects that harness and monetise landfill gas instead.

Only two large-scale GTL projects are still being developed in Uzbekistan and South Africa. Existing large GTL plants continue to operate in Qatar (Pearl and Oryx) and Nigeria (Escravos GTL).