Conversion

As part of what is supposed to be a three-state, multi-county action eventually, Garfield County commissioners in Colorado approved a joint resolution Monday that is highly critical of federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) scaled-back plans for oil shale development.

California-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp.’s compressed natural gas (CNG) conversion kit manufacturer, BAF, has received clearance from California air quality regulators to sell its 2012 dedicated CNG Ford Motor Co. Transit Connect taxis in the state. The certification from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is effective immediately, according to Dallas-based BAF. In this case CNG is used in traditional gasoline internal combustion engines that BAF modifies to operate on natural gas (see Daily GPI, Sept. 27). As a Clean Energy subsidiary, BAF has been certified by Ford to convert standard Transit Connect taxis to run on CNG. BAF said it already has CARB authorizations for other 2012 utility and shuttle models, and it has federal Environmental Protection Agency authorization for CNG-powered versions of Ford vans, shuttles and pickup trucks.

Aux Sable Midstream (ASM) plans to build a natural gas liquid (NGL) truck unloading facility at its Palermo Conditioning Plant in Palermo, ND to serve growing production of NGL-rich gas from the Bakken Shale.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded nearly $1 million recently for a research project on the conversion of biosolids to energy. The $999,924 from CEC’s Public Interest Energy Research program was awarded to Antioch, CA-based Delta Diablo Sanitation District to develop, demonstrate and implement a system for turning biosolids into energy. The project’s total cost is $4.7 million, with the rest of the funding coming from Intellergy Corp. in Richmond, CA. Biosolids are the treated byproducts produced by wastewater treatment facilities when organics are removed from municipal sewage. Biosolids contain latent energy that potentially can be harnessed in several ways, one of which is to heat the material, breaking it down into gases that are converted to energy. In the Delta Diablo facility, steam and carbon dioxide will be added to produce a hydrogen-rich synthetic gas that will be used to run a fuel cell to produce electricity.

Natural gas liquids (NGL) economics continued to improve in October, and the petrochemical industry’s conversion to lighter feedstocks, namely ethane, has been happening more quickly than expected, analysts at Wells Fargo Securities said last week.

Natural gas liquids (NGL) economics continued to improve in October, and the petrochemical industry’s conversion to lighter feedstocks, namely ethane, has been happening more quickly than expected, analysts at Wells Fargo Securities said Monday.

Spectra Energy Corp. Thursday turned in a weaker third quarter performance compared with a year ago due largely to lower commodity prices. However, management pointed to expansion projects that are generating returns near the top of expectations. Further, the U.S. Southeast and Western Canada both offer opportunities, executives said.

The conversion of landfill methane gas to liquefied natural gas (LNG) for use in fueling trash trucks and other heavy equipment is similar in its technical processes and economics, according to a New Jersey-based executive getting ready to open a landfill-LNG plant later this year at a Northern California trash site. But Linde North America, a project partner with Houston-based Waste Management Corp., has no interest in global, baseload-size LNG projects, according to Byran Luftglass, Linde’s energy segment manager.

Chevron Corp. replaced only 11% of its proven oil and natural gas reserves in 2007 and total reserves fell 7% from 2006, partly because of “the effect of a conversion of operating service agreements” in Venezuela, the company said last week.