This work borders on the techno-economic comparisons between the conventional Fischer-
Tropsch process and a developed Bio-conversion process route for natural gas to liquid fuel
production. The FT and Bio-GTL processes were simulated using natural gas as feed stock.
FT synthesis produced an overall feed conversion of 12.84% to liquid fuel and a wide
distribution of products with more products present in the LPG fraction. A carbon conversion
efficiency of 45.02% was obtained showing the maturity of the technology. On the other
hand, the bio-GTL route produced an overall conversion of 34.47% with most of the products
distributed within the C15 to C18 range. Providing more feedstock for further cracking into
lighter liquid fuels. A carbon efficiency of 18.6% showed the under development of this
technology.
On the economics aspect, the Bridgewater’s method of cost estimation was used to calculate
the fixed capital costs and other capital costs. Finally the cost of production per ton of
product assuming uniformity in product quality was evaluated. $ 130,297.52 and $45,341.31
was obtained for both FT and Bio-GTL routes respectively, this showed that the Bio-GTL
process was the more cost effective option.