752.    ---------------.  [DUFF, D. M.]  Synthesis Fuels Competitive With Crude-Based Fuels.  Oil Gas Jour., vol. 46, No. 37, 1948, p. 57.

     According to E. V. Murphree, president of the Standard Oil Development Co. and principal speaker at the dedication of a new research building at Baton Rouge, motor fuel produced from natural gas is now generally competitive with that produced from petroleum.  The hydrocarbon-synthesis process employing the fluid-catalyst technique is still undergoing improvement, and commercial plants are being considered.  Comparative plant costs under present prices are about as follows:  For a conventional refinery, $2,000-$2,500 per bbl. of product per day; for a natural-gas synthesis plant, $4,000-$4,500; and for a synthesis plant using coal, $8,000.  A pilot-plant demonstration of the 2-vessel system of shale retorting using the fluid technique will soon be inaugurated.  Pilot plants devoted to synthesis study including a 10-bbl. per day unit from which data are being obtained through more than 60 recording instruments are under operation.  A former hydrogenation unit is being converted to the production of higher molecular-weight alcohols, the process, therefore, being based on the reaction between synthesis gas and certain petroleum fractions with subsequent hydrogenation.