[Stoves] fLARED NATURAL GAS.

[John Davies]

Crispin and All,

The traditional Sasol process produced a wide range of hydrocarbons and 
alcohols. Sasol and Chevron have pooled technology to create a process that 
produces 80% synthetic diesel and 20 % other products from natural gas.  ( 
methane )

At the current oil price synthetic diesel and bio-diesel are highly 
profitable, although the bio-diesel has a higher production cost, and could 
become a dinosaur should the crude price fall.  These products attain 
premium prices as a blending component into traditional diesel from crude 
oil. The cheapest way to produce cleaner burning diesel. ( diesel being the 
fuel which auto ignites in ic engines and also used as home heating oil in 
the colder countries of the first world.)

It's about 35 years since I worked in the laboratory, but from what I can 
remember your C numbers sound right, there is always an overlap of C's due 
to crude being split by fractionation.
************

The term paraffin can be  misleading.-

Chemically, paraffin is a straight chain molecule and can have a C number 
from 1 as in methane to C30 or maybe higher, as in waxes. So all hydrocarbon 
fuels have a paraffin content. The formulae being  that the number of 
hydrogen atoms being double the C atoms plus 2   i.e.   CH4 , 
C2H6....C8H18.... C30H62 etc.

Commercially,   the name is used in many parts of the world for the C9 to 
C15 fraction, containing only chemical paraffin. Also known as, illuminating 
paraffin or kerosene.and traditionally burned in wick lamps and stoves, 
primus stoves and lamps, and burns with minimum smoke and soot formation..

Incidentally Jet fuel is the same fraction, but contains aromatics and other 
hydrocarbons in small quantities, and would burn with a smoky flame on a 
wick.
I have never heard of antifreeze being added to Jet fuel, it would 
completely change the burning characteristics, I believe this to be a myth.

Hope that this clears up some of the confusion.

Regards,
John Davies.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Crispin at newdawn.sz" <crispin at newdawn.sz>

> Dear John
>
> I was wondering what they were up to!  What I would like to add is that 
> the
> process that produces diesel also produces a large amount of paraffin by
> accident (the C9-C15 part of it).
>
> Paraffin is also a safe, high energy fuel, the only problem has been the
> stoves.
>
> John, can you confirm that the local paraffin is C9-C20 and that local
> diesel is C16-C22?
>
> Regards
> Crispin in Rosebank
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "John Davies" <jmdavies at telkomsa.net>
>
>
> Greetings Stovers,
>
> I write to fill in an apparently little known fact. Sasol is building a
> plant in Nigeria to utilize the flared gas,