Maverick, methane: attacking the big wave

Maverick Synfuels Introduces Maverick Oasis — attacking the big methane wave via affordable, modular, smaller-scale gas-to-liquid methanol plants

If you’ve been raised on video of traditional surfing, with its hot dog cutbacks, aerials, dramatic reentries, and tube mechanics — think again when it comes to the big wave. The art of surfing the big bombs at Waimea Bay, Dumgeons or Mavericks is all about simple lines, moving fast, staying up, and survival.

In new fuels, the Big Wave equivalent of Mavericks, these days, is methane, with such replete supplies being produced up in the Bakken that low-value gas are being flared at so many wells that, at dusk, the western horizon vibrates with the light of a hundred dancing “Dakota fireflies”. Or, consider anaerobic digesters on agricultural land. Or landfill gas.

But, where’s the value? Gas is being flared, digesters are left unbuilt — not because of the lack of opportunity but because burning gas for power is a low-value application, and the gas needs aggregation to pipeline economically.

Enter Maverick Synfuels. On one level, we wish they were named Mavericks Synfuels — because over the years they have consistently simplified their technologies, picked up some speed, and now are attacking the big methane wave.

The technology vision

Their vision is as replete with hot keywords as anything in the field today. Affordable. Small-scale. Methane. GTL. Modular. Financeable.

The Maverick vision? Produce methanol from methane at small “spoke” production facilities located at or near the feedstock supply — and transport the higher value liquid either directly to customers, or to a larger central “hub” facility to be converted into final products.

The news: available now

So it’s big news this week that Maverick Synfuels has introduced the first small-scale, modular methane-to-methanol production plant that can be co-located at the methane source. With a footprint of just 5,000 square feet, each plant is modular so that it can be shipped to the operational location, where it is assembled by a team of Maverick engineers and integrated with the local infrastructure.

The Maverick Oasis system allows producers to monetize biogas and natural gas (including associated or flare gas, and stranded gas reserves), as an alternative to producing electricity or venting destructive greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The data

Each modular facility will produce between 3,000 and 10,000 gallons per day of methanol that is consumed onsite or transported to nearby markets. By using standard assembly line manufacturing processes, Maverick Oasis significantly reduces the capital requirements and delivery time (9 – 12 months) compared to larger plants that must be built on site.

Feedstock input? 300-1200 cubic feet per minute — depending on the CO2 and methane content. That’s equivalent to a 8000-9000 cow dairy, or a medium sized landfill. With a lot of locations Maverick can combine multiple gas streams, for example, with anaerobic digester gas or landfill gas we can economically afford to bring in pipeline natural gas to supplement the base gas stream. Another option with anaerobic digesters is to co-digest other organic feedstocks to increase the gas production from the digester.

Cost? $950-1400 per metric ton of methanol output — between 7 and 8 figures for a full-size system.

Business model. Maverick expects to work directly with feedstock suppliers as its own project developer — and outside project developers as well, or as a supplier to a feedstock supplier desiring to originate its own project.

CO2 tolerance. Up to 20% CO2, the presence of CO2 is favorable. Above that level, the CO2 is separated out.

Geographies. For now, think US. Later, overseas wherever the project attributes fit local feedstock supply.

The value lift. Natgas is trading at around $4 per MMBTUs right now, methanol at roughly triple that, in the $11-$15 range. Plus, a lot of landfill and stranded gas is being flared — valueless at the moment.

Stage. Units of this technology have been built – but not at this scale. Maverick is bringing a performance guarantee to eliminate technology risk.

More on the systems. The Maverick Oasis factory-built Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) methanol plants are modular, and can be rapidly deployed onsite to produce thousands of gallons per day of ultra-clean methanol from natural gas or methane-rich waste gas. The plants are designed to be low-cost, highly efficient facilities optimized to generate an attractive project rate of return.

Each Oasis modular facility comes equipped with performance guarantees based on the designed methanol output rating.

The Maverick Oasis system uses proprietary technology to convert a variety of methane-containing feedstocks; biogas, natural gas (including stranded gas and flare gas), coal bed methane, and landfill gas, into AA grade methanol that meets ASTM D1152 specifications.

Feedstock sources

Agriculture Digesters: For dairy farms, waste water treatment plants, and other facilities that use anaerobic digesters to process animal, food, and other organic waste, Maverick Oasis offers more vertical integration with clean fuel products and an alternative to traditional electricity generation.

Landfill Methane Collection: Maverick Oasis provides another use for methane that would either be flared or vented into the atmosphere, and the methanol that is produced provides a higher value return than typical electricity generation.

Oil and Gas Fields: Maverick Oasis takes advantage of both stranded natural gas reserves and associated (flare) gas found when drilling for petroleum.

Applications

Methanol is an important intermediate for producing high-value products, including olefins, acetic acid, formaldehyde, plastics, resins, and other chemical products in addition to being used to produce biodiesel, to prevent hydrate formation, and to denitrify waste water.

In some markets, methanol can be blended with gasoline (M15, M85) or used directly as M100. Methanol can also be used in fuel cells or further synthesized into dimethyl ether (a diesel and LPG substitute), diesel and jet fuel. Methanol blends make environmentally superior fuels that improve combustion, burn cleanly, and reduce emissions.

Wasn’t Maverick gasifying waste biomass at one time?

Yep. Maverick’s original vision was to use a broader range of feedstocks — including crop and timber waste or municipal solid waste into high-energy mixed-alcohol biofuels. The vision has been considerably simplified as the focus has trained on methane.

Reaction from the principals

“At this scale, the Maverick Oasis system is the first commercially proven technology that converts low-value gas feedstocks into methanol and higher-value products,” said Jeff Harrison, Maverick’s Chief Engineering Officer.

“For the first time, Maverick Oasis brings proven GTL technology to smaller gas reserves in an efficient, compact and modular configuration,” said Sam Yenne, Maverick’s CEO.

“With Maverick Oasis, these gas reserves can be converted into methanol, a transportable product which is a highly valued commodity, and which can be used directly or converted to other fuels like clean diesel, jet fuel, and higher-value products,” added Yenne. “In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Maverick Oasis will bring jobs and other economic benefits to many rural locations.”

The Bottom Line

The value lift from methane to methanol is substantial — and there’s the gain in distribution and upgrading options to consider once you can afford to move the molecules. Highly distributed methane is hard to affordably move. Methanol – a no brainer.

In the nearer term, we’re told the project economics will likely work best for landfill gas and major dairies.

With the technology risk addressed, and strong demand for methanol — the real question is who has the feedstock and the balance sheet to do projects. We’ll be seeing about that as Maverick’s story develops.