Some F-T factories use coal, biomass or other solid compounds as a starting point. Before these factories can begin the F-T process, they must turn the solids into gases such as CO, H, and alkanes. Changing solid chemical compounds into gas is called gasification. The gas collected from coal gasification often has a CO/H ratio of ~0.7 instead of the optimal ratio of ~2. This ratio can be adjusted from 0.7 to 2.0 using the water-gas shift reaction. Gasification is a dirty and expensive process. Coal-based Fischer–Tropsch factories start out with coal, gasify the coal, and then use the resulting gas as feed stock for the Fischer-Tropsch process. These factories can produce large volumes of CO in this way. One of the main reasons for this approach is the large amounts of energy required for a coal-based gasification process.
The original process was invented by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch while working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in the 1920s. Since then, many improvements have been made. The term "Fischer-Tropsch" now is used for many similar processes. Fischer and Tropsch submitted several patents, like US patent no. 1,746,464, applied for in 1926, and published in 1930. It was given to the factories in Germany in 1936. Germany had an abundance of coal but very little petroleum. The F-T process enables the conversion of coal into gasoline, which is important for gasoline-based transport like cars, airplanes, and trucks. As a result, during World War II, the F-T process enabled Nazi Germany and Japan to produce substitute fuels for tanks and cars. F-T fuel production made up about 9% of German wartime fuel production and 25% of the automobile fuel.
The United States Bureau of Mines ran a program started by the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act. The Bureau hired seven fuel scientists from Operation Paperclip to work in a Fischer-Tropsch plant in Louisiana, Missouri in 1946. Operation Paperclip was a project to recruit German scientists to work for the US after World War II.
The F-T process has been used by many large companies, however the process is unpopular for many reasons. F-T factory equipment is expensive, and has high operating and maintenance costs. Also, petroleum, which competes with F-T products, has very unpredictable prices. Usually, factories are only profitable when they have access to "stranded gas". "Stranded gas" is the name for sources of natural gas very far from major cities that are too expensive to pump to consumers. If the natural gas could be pumped to these cities and sold directly to consumers, it would be much more profitable. Therefore, several companies are developing processes to enable practical exploitation of so-called stranded gas reserves.
The largest F-T factories with the largest application of F-T technology are owned and operated by the company Sasol in South Africa. South Africa is a country with large coal reserves but not enough oil to meet demand. Germany is in a similar situation. Sasol employs coal and natural gas in the F-T Process. They produce many different substitutes for oil products, and produce most of the country's diesel fuel.
One of the largest uses of F-T technology is in Bintulu, Malaysia. This Shell factory turns natural gas into low-sulfur diesel fuels and food-grade wax. They produce approximately 12,000 barrels/day.
In October 2006, Finnish paper and pulp manufacturer UPM announced its plans to produce biodiesel using the Fischer–Tropsch process. It said that it will do this along with the manufacturing processes at its European paper and pulp plants. It will use waste biomass from paper and pulp manufacturing as raw material for biodiesel.
In 2009, chemists working for the U.S. Navy studied Fischer-Tropsch for making fuels with hydrogen from electrolyzed seawater. With the usually optimal cobalt catalyst, this study produced mostly methane gas. Use of an iron catalyst, however, resulted in only 30% methane in the product; the rest consisted of short-chain hydrocarbons. Further refining of the hydrocarbons produced could lead to the creation of kerosene-based jet fuel.
The abundance of CO2 makes seawater look like a good alternative fuel source. Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory said that, "although the gas forms only a small proportion of air – around 0.04 per cent – ocean water contains about 140 times that concentration". However this often-repeated statement is misleading because while the density of CO2 and related compounds in seawater is about 200x the density of CO2 in air on a per cubic meter basis, carbon dioxide compounds are only about 1/4 the density on a per kg basis.
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was an American abolitionist. Brown supported using violence to end slavery in the United States. He first got national attention when he led small groups of people during the Bleeding Kansas crisis of 1856.
In October 1859, Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (today West Virginia). He wanted to start a slave liberation movement that would spread south through the areas of Virginia and North Carolina. He took control of the armory, but seven people were killed, and ten or more were injured. Brown wanted to arm slaves with weapons from the armory. However, few local slaves joined his attack. Within 36 hours, Brown's men were killed or captured by local farmers, militiamen, and U.S. Marines. Brown was executed by hanging for treason against the state of Virginia on December 2, 1859. He was the first person executed for treason in the history of the United States.
Brown is still a controversial person today. He is both remembered as a heroic martyr, and he is hated as a madman and a terrorist.
John Brown was born May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut. He was the fourth of the eight children of Owen Brown (1771–1856) and Ruth Mills (1772–1808) and grandson of Capt. John Brown (1728–1776). Brown's ancestors were 17th-century English Puritans.
In 1805, the family moved to Hudson, Ohio. Owen Brown opened a tannery here. Hudson had a lot of anti-slavery activity. Owen was a part of it. Owen provided a safe house to Underground Railroad fugitives. There was not a high school in Hudson at that time, so John studied at the school of the abolitionist Elizur Wright. Elizur Wright was the father of Elizur Wright, in nearby Tallmadge.
The father of Ulysses S. Grant, Jesse R. Grant, was Owen Brown's apprentice.
When he was 16 years old, Brown left his family and went to Plainfield, Massachusetts. He joined a preparatory program. Shortly afterward, he went to the Morris Academy in Litchfield, Connecticut.
In 1820, Brown married Dianthe Lusk. Their first child, John Jr, was born 13 months later. In 1825, looking for a safer place (for fugitive slaves), Brown and his family moved to New Richmond, Pennsylvania. He bought of land. He cleared an eighth of it, and he built a cabin, a barn, and a tannery. The tannery had a secret room to hide escaping slaves. The John Brown Tannery Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It "was a major stop on the [Underground] Railroad, marking its place in history from 1825 to 1835." During that period, "Brown helped an estimated 2,500 slaves escape."
In 1829, some white families asked Brown to help them remove Native Americans who hunted annually in the area. Brown told them, "I will have nothing to do with [such a] mean act. I would [rather] take my gun and help [remove] you from the country." Throughout his life, Brown kept peaceful relations with his Native American neighbors. Sometimes he would go with them on hunting trips, and he invited them to eat in his home.