Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. -- Archimedes
A few posts ago I highlighted Sulphco’s efforts to commercialize its Sonocracking™ desulfurization technology. As noted in the Wikinvest article on Sulphco, “Major companies like Merichem, ChevronTexaco (CVX) , CONOCOPHILLIPS (COP) and other large oil producers have been actively pursuing their own versions of sonocracking.” However, even companies with such vast resources at their disposal can have setbacks.
Note, for example, the following comment, resulting from a Google® search on “vrsh chevron” …
“The VRSH pilot plant project (Vacuum Resid Slurry Hydrocracker) now on the fast track in Pascagoula has some serious realities of scale issues to overcome, even if the pilot plant proves the technology viable.
“For one...even though the process has efficiencies of greater than 105% liquid conversion....relative to about 75-82% for a conventional delayed Coker...., the massive amounts of manufactured hydrogen required for a commercial scale plant are truly daunting. For a 100 kpbd resid unit, approximately 340 Mscfd of hydrogen would be needed. In today's dollars, we are talking about a 8 billion to 15 billion dollar investment for a VRSH complex at a refinery. Beyond the huge financial hurtles, the production of those quantities of hydrogen would require permitting new huge greenhouse gas emissions...CO2 being the byproduct of H2O / CHx reforming.
“If you start talking about carbon sequestration as a part of the project, then the cost goes into the stratosphere.
“Don't bet on seeing a commercial scale VRSH plant in the USA in the near future. When the fuel crisis winds up toward the end game, those that have the money..ie. those that have the oil....may provide the funding for a domestic plant if the political wind at that time will allow it.”
source: http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/articles.php?boardId=69817&articleId=5408&func=5&channel=Money+%26+Finance
And as a reminder to those of us who focus on technology, the price of crude has an enormous impact, as we see from the following quote from a post by Sylvia Hall (shall@wlox.com) ...
“A much awaited pilot project at Chevron's Pascagoula Refinery has been deferred due to the economy. The VRSH project, announced last March, won't be considered again until at least 2010. The company says the delay is due to the dropping price of crude oil.”
source: http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=9766821
Speaking of economics, you may have run across the concept of using OPM – Other People’s Money – to leverage your investments. Well, you can think of employing a research service as using OPT – Other People’s Time – as a way to leverage your time. When you are hip deep in primary research and need help with secondary research, remember us at research@JeanSteinhardtConsulting.com … Our research supports your research
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