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Preface

Interest in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) has undergone periods of signiἀ-cant development and periods of near neglect since its discovery by Fischer and Tropsch in 1924. It was developed in Germany during the 1930s in competition with direct liquefaction. Up to the end of the war in 1945, direct liquefaction was the dominant process for converting coal to transportation fuels; in Germany the FTS was used mainly for the production of chemicals and substitutes for natu-ral products, including butter. After 1945, the commercial application of FTS in Germany rapidly declined, although Professor Kölbel, among others, continued work on the scientiἀc and engineering aspects of the reaction.Following WWII, efforts to develop commercial operations were initiated in the United States, led by Dobie Keith of Hydrocarbon Research, Inc. (HRI), and in South Africa. The U.S. effort was an industrial undertaking and, with the poten-tial oil production in the Middle East and the rising cost of natural gas feedstock, was terminated in the mid-1950s. The effort in South Africa had the support of the government and continued to be developed. The South African government and Sasol Technology agreed upon a base price for the FTS product; when the price of oil was above that of the base price, Sasol would pay the government the difference, and when a lower price prevailed, the government would pay Sasol the difference. The South African payments were similar to the agreements that were in place in Germany prior to 1945. In both instances, the government had to make payments to the developers during the initial years of operation, but eventually the payments to the government began and, in Germany, greatly exceeded what was paid out initially by the government. Sasol succeeded in developing vari-ous processes for FTS and eventually became an independent company without government support. Sasol continues to grow and has recently opened a 35,000 bbl/day plant based on natural gas in Qatar. Shell, with some support from the Malaysian government, has developed a commercial plant based on natural gas with a capacity of about 15,000 bbl/day and is now constructing a plant in Qatar with a capacity of 70,000 bbl/day. PetroSA (formerly Mossgas) has developed, with government support, a commercial operation, based on Sasol technology, in South Africa that is based on natural gas.Because of the immense initial investment, FTS has only been commercialized when some form of government support was available. In each instance, the developer generated a proἀtable technology and more than repaid the government subsidy.The current high price for oil has again developed signiἀcant interest in FTS. The present volume is based on a symposium held during the 236th meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia in August 2008. The renewed interest in FTS was evidenced by the excellent attendance and lively discussions following each presentation.