In November 2016, ENVIA Energy completed the construction of the first-ever microchannel gas-to-liquid plant in the United States. While both large- and small-scale biomass plants capture methane produced from biomass dump sites around the world — biomass plant technology is decades old — microchannel plants are a new and unique technology.

The need for sustainable energy is reaching critical proportions. Current fuel sources release harmful greenhouse gases, and they will eventually run out. Alternative energy sources (such as wind or solar) have come a long way, but they are unlikely to meet energy demands in the foreseeable future. Even when homes get to a zero-emission point, it is important to note the sheer amount of energy consumed for industrial use. Large manufacturing plants can gulp as much energy as entire cities or even some countries.

Steam methane reforming (SMR) is the most common process for producing hydrogen-rich synthesis gas (syngas) from light hydrocarbons like natural gas, biogas and refinery feedstock.

Concerns about greenhouse gases and the negative environmental impact of modern fuel sources have led to technological advances. Cleaner energy is a must manufacturing grows. Natural gas plants produce much of the energy needed, but it must meet regulatory standards for purity. Carbon capture technology is one of the ways natural gas plants can minimize the environmental impact of this energy source.

With a historical introduction, complete set of rules and additional guidelines for operational processes, our free to download Process Safety Management & Implementation Checklist offers you a complete packet of information to start or supplement your current plant's safety management.

Many plant managers aren't clear on why a skid-mounted system is better than a traditional compressor station, or they may believe that skid-mounted systems only work as a temporary solution. But skid-mounted systems have several powerful advantages that place them head and shoulders above traditional compressors, and they work very well as permanent equipment in a plant.

For many businesses, data offers insight into what is working and what needs improvement. Careful analysis can unlock problems in your plant that could be affecting cash flow and productivity. You probably already track hundreds, if not thousands of data points, but gaining actionable insights from that information is the challenge. The best data in the world won't help if it is never used to drive change. Here are some simple data processing steps that can help benchmark your current operations and improve them through the remainder of the year and into the next.

Raw natural gas is can be extremely corrosive and mildly toxic, which makes it difficult to transport and store long-term and unfit to serve as a clean fuel. In order to convert raw natural gas into a non-toxic form that can be stored for extended periods of time and transported easily, it must be refined or “conditioned.”

Natural gas can be extracted from a variety of sources, including oil and condensate wells, landfill sites and other underground hydrocarbon reservoirs. When the raw product is obtained, it is almost always laced with some form of impurity.

The increasing importance of Carbon Capture & Storage protocols (CCS) in the natural-gas processing industry has recently focused attention onto the economics of acid gas decontamination methods, and the energy efficiency associated with such practices.