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Australia has abundant gas resources
that have the potential to provide us with a cleaner source of transport fuel,
allowing us to rely less on oil imports.
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Synthetic fuels made from natural gas, have a number of benefits over oil derived fuels
including burning more cleanly and demonstrating superior engine performance.
Converting gas to liquid fuels is energy intensive and costly
because of the high pressure and temperature requirements in some parts of the process.
There are generally two steps involved in gas to liquid or GTL processes.
In the first step, natural gas, which is mostly made up of methane,
reacts with water and/or oxygen, sometimes in the presence of a catalyst.
These reactions produce syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
The syngas can then be transformed by a catalytic reaction called Fischer-Tropsch synthesis,
to produce a mixture of hydrocarbons.
The mixture is then further processed to make synthetic fuels such as diesel,
petrol and jet fuel and other valuable products such as lubricants and waxes.
CSIRO, Australia's national science agency,
is developing and testing new catalysts
and modified processes to make GTL more energy efficient, cleaner and cheaper.
Compact processing plants are being engineered to make gas processing cheaper
and potentially more mobile.
This will allow economical access to remote and stranded gas resources,
both onshore and offshore.
CSIRO has built Australia's first synthetic fuels research facility,
capable of running unmanned, 24 hours a day.
This unique facility will enable scientists to investigate a wide range of operating conditions
and long term testing of gas conversion processes.
The facility will provide industrially significant data
to improve GTL processes and develop capability for Australia's gas processing industry.
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CSIRO works closely with industry
to rapidly implement technologies and solutions
that address industry challenges and needs
with the aim of delivering cleaner energy from our local Australian resources.