Gas-to-gasoline process makes commercial debut in Turkmenistan  

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Ovadan-Depe near the capital of Ashgabad in Turkmenistan to launch the construction of a major plant focused on the conversion of natural gas into synthetic gasoline. The plant will be based on Haldor Topsøe A/S’s (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) TIGAS (Topsøe Improved Gasoline Synthesis) technology and will become the first full scale large commercial facility using this technology. “TIGAS makes it possible to produce high quality, high value gasoline from natural gas, shale gas, associated gas, coal, pet coke or even biomass. The plant in Turkmenistan is extremely important to us, because it is the first large-scale project in the world where we can showcase how our technology can help a nation with huge natural gas reserves monetize their natural resources by diversifying beyond conventional gas markets into transportation fuels,” says Bjerne S. Clausen, CEO and president at Haldor Topsøe. The plant has been awarded by the national gas company Turkmengas, and Topsøe will be working alongside the Japanese contractor Kawasaki Heavy Industry Ltd. and the Turkish contractor Rönesans Turkmen to engineer and construct the facility. The plant will…