Repurposing Fischer-Tropsch and Natural Gas as Bridging Technologies for the Energy Revolution

Immediate and widespread changes in energy generation and use are critical to safeguard our future on this planet. However, while the necessity of renewable electricity generation is clear, the aviation, transport and mobility, chemical and material sectors are challenging to fully electrify. The age-old Fischer-Tropsch process and natural gas industry could be the bridging solution needed to accelerate the energy revolution in these sectors – temporarily powering obsolete vehicles, acting as renewable energy’s battery, supporting expansion of hydrogen fuel cell technologies and the agricultural and waste sectors as they struggle to keep up with a full switch to biofuels. Natural gas can be converted into hydrogen, synthetic natural gas, or heat during periods of low electricity demand and converted back to electricity again when needed. Moving methane through existing networks and converting it to hydrogen on-site at tanking stations also overcomes hydrogen distribution, storage problems and infrastructure deficiencies. Useful co-products include carbon nanotubes, a valuable engineering material, that offset emissions in the carbon nanotube and black industries. Finally, excess carbon can be converted back into syngas if desired. This flexibility and the compatibility of natural gas with both existing and future technologies provides a unique opportunity to rapidly decarbonise sectors struggling with complex requirements.