New gas-to-liquids plant planned in US

Pinto Energy, a developer of gas-to-liquids (GTL) facilities, is set to build a new plant on its site in Ohio, US.

The 2,800 barrel per day (bpd) plant will be built at Pinto’s 80-acre industrial site and will convert low-cost natural gas from the Utica and Marcellus shale region into ultra clean transportation fuels and other products like solvents, lubricants and waxes.

The company recently filed the project’s air and water permits, and is in discussions with regional economic authorities for further local support.

Pinto has also chosen to incorporate Velocys’ Fischer Tropsch (FT) technology and has agreed to commercial license terms while making a down payment towards the FT reactors. Ventech Engineers International will be the project’s EPC contractor.

The plant design is expected to be complete at the end of 2013, with Pinto seeking to start construction in the first half of 2014. Mechanical completion of the plant is expected in late 2015.