This is not a service station. :) It appears to be an engineering, procurement and construction facility for Linde's HyCO, Selas Fluid, and Rectisol® units. It helps Linde to build, own and operate gassification plants worldwide that turn heavy refinery waste streams, from off-gases through bunker oils and asphalts, into synthetic liquid (gas) streams and thus-far unavoidable atmospheric wastes. The processes employed can give us pure products like hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, synthetic gas, ammonia and methanol, all highly useful in industrial processes. Though undesirable remaining waste streams are oxidized (carefully burned) to recover as much soot (graphite, nanotubes and buckeyballs), sulfur and carbon dioxide as possible before dispersing a large remainder of carbon dioxide, nitrogen gas and toxic traces into the atmosphere.
I rated it OK, because who among us with a large carbon and toxics footprint wants to throw the first stone? The Linde web site toutes nearly 4,000 gasification plants designed, built and operating around the world, some of which can process refinery waste or even coal up to 3 and 1/2 million cubic feet per day when measured at standard temperature (freezing) and pressure (normal atmospheric), abbreviated MM SCFD. I believe these plants are sometimes called gas-to-liquids or coal gasification plants, and have a huge global warming potential until and unless we move into an absolutely carbon-constrained world.
About 300 of these plants now focus on recovering hydrogen gas from refinery wastes or coals. This hydrogen is typically added to the heavier "higher sulfur/nitrogen content crude oil" pumped from today's wells, or even "oil sands and heavier feedstock." Unfortunately, those, along with coal, are great emitters of CO2: about twice the amount that arises from buring natural gas, and 1.6 times that from buring lighter, sweeter petroleum. Unlike coal, these unconventional heavy oil sources have not had much chance to contaminate the atmosphere yet. If current trends continue enough heavy oil shales and tar sands exist to about equal conventional petroleum use as a source of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions. Unless coal use somehow ends worldwide, it will definitely not be safe to allow gasification plants to commonly process every last drop of heavy crude, tar sands or oil shales. According to current understandings of ancient climates, it appears that the atmosphere will tip toward uncontrolled warming with the addition of more than ten or twenty years of either coal or unconventional oils, assuming remaining readily-available petroleum will be burned. Dr. James Hansen reports that our air is already past the point of known safety, 350 parts per million CO2, and will need to return to that level in this century (Hansen, 2010, "Storms of my Grandchildren"; Hansen, 2011, "Paleoclimate Implications for Human-Made Climate Change" draft from http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110118_MilankovicPaper.pdf; http://www.blogger.com/www.350.org).
"Over 35 Linde Rectisol® units have been built worldwide in the range of 1.0 - 260.0 MM SCFD for clients in the refining, chemical and fertilizer industries. The process is used extensively in gasification plants to purify synthesis gas" (syngas) for "downstream chemical applications where product quality is critical." Linde's patented process for removing acid gases from syngas can separate out sulfur compounds and CO2 in combined or separate fractions. This would be great if the bulk of CO2 and N2 and perhaps Nitrous Oxides also were not dumped into the atmosphere, but rather collected and sequestered for closed-loop or stable long-term storage. Needed "carbon capture and sequestration" (CCS) technology exists, but so far neither the U.S. government nor big business have been willing to front the money needed to build about five pilot plants to commercialize CCS at an industrial scale. Unless a sea change in attitude occurs, we will likely end up a client of the necessary technology from the successful nation. Also, questions remain about the safety of concentrated long-term storage of massive quantities of unbreathable gases that we currently allow to mix into the open atmosphere. These are causing dangerous long-term excess greenhouse warming.
Other plants must be Air Separation Units (3,000 plus worldwide) that exert energy to extract cryogenic nitrogen and oxygen or argon. More may be Syngas plants. Selas Fluid’s product portfolio "includes pyrolysis furnaces for olefin plants, EDC pyrolysis furnaces for vinyl plants, fired heaters for refinery and specialty chemical plants and thermal oxidation equipment" for super-hot hazardous waste incinerators.
According to the admirable Selas Fluids "Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ) Policy" signed by current and past Presidents and CEOs (posted at http://www.selasfluid.com/International/Web/LE/US/likelesfus.nsf/repositorybyalias/QHSE_Policy/$file/QHSE%20Policy%20SF.pdf),
It is this reviewer's sincere hope that Linde LLC and the entire petrochemical industry that it increasingly serves will consider global atmospheric damage not as an unavoidable externality but as public harm to be vigorously avoided. Like most American's I believe it can be done. Unlike many, I believe this must be done if we are to preserve a living creation that is our dear and only home.
The Selas Fluid web site outlines their commitment:
Source:
http://www.selasfluid.com/International/Web/LE/US/likelesfus.nsf/repositorybyalias/QHSE_Policy/$file/QHSE%20Policy%20SF.pdf
last retrieved 2/1/2011.
For those interested, Selas Fluid contact info in PA and Houston, TX may be found at:
http://www.selasfluid.com/International/WEB/LE/US/likelesfus.nsf/docbyalias/nav_sflltest.
I rated it OK, because who among us with a large carbon and toxics footprint wants to throw the first stone? The Linde web site toutes nearly 4,000 gasification plants designed, built and operating around the world, some of which can process refinery waste or even coal up to 3 and 1/2 million cubic feet per day when measured at standard temperature (freezing) and pressure (normal atmospheric), abbreviated MM SCFD. I believe these plants are sometimes called gas-to-liquids or coal gasification plants, and have a huge global warming potential until and unless we move into an absolutely carbon-constrained world.
About 300 of these plants now focus on recovering hydrogen gas from refinery wastes or coals. This hydrogen is typically added to the heavier "higher sulfur/nitrogen content crude oil" pumped from today's wells, or even "oil sands and heavier feedstock." Unfortunately, those, along with coal, are great emitters of CO2: about twice the amount that arises from buring natural gas, and 1.6 times that from buring lighter, sweeter petroleum. Unlike coal, these unconventional heavy oil sources have not had much chance to contaminate the atmosphere yet. If current trends continue enough heavy oil shales and tar sands exist to about equal conventional petroleum use as a source of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions. Unless coal use somehow ends worldwide, it will definitely not be safe to allow gasification plants to commonly process every last drop of heavy crude, tar sands or oil shales. According to current understandings of ancient climates, it appears that the atmosphere will tip toward uncontrolled warming with the addition of more than ten or twenty years of either coal or unconventional oils, assuming remaining readily-available petroleum will be burned. Dr. James Hansen reports that our air is already past the point of known safety, 350 parts per million CO2, and will need to return to that level in this century (Hansen, 2010, "Storms of my Grandchildren"; Hansen, 2011, "Paleoclimate Implications for Human-Made Climate Change" draft from http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110118_MilankovicPaper.pdf; http://www.blogger.com/www.350.org).
"Over 35 Linde Rectisol® units have been built worldwide in the range of 1.0 - 260.0 MM SCFD for clients in the refining, chemical and fertilizer industries. The process is used extensively in gasification plants to purify synthesis gas" (syngas) for "downstream chemical applications where product quality is critical." Linde's patented process for removing acid gases from syngas can separate out sulfur compounds and CO2 in combined or separate fractions. This would be great if the bulk of CO2 and N2 and perhaps Nitrous Oxides also were not dumped into the atmosphere, but rather collected and sequestered for closed-loop or stable long-term storage. Needed "carbon capture and sequestration" (CCS) technology exists, but so far neither the U.S. government nor big business have been willing to front the money needed to build about five pilot plants to commercialize CCS at an industrial scale. Unless a sea change in attitude occurs, we will likely end up a client of the necessary technology from the successful nation. Also, questions remain about the safety of concentrated long-term storage of massive quantities of unbreathable gases that we currently allow to mix into the open atmosphere. These are causing dangerous long-term excess greenhouse warming.
Other plants must be Air Separation Units (3,000 plus worldwide) that exert energy to extract cryogenic nitrogen and oxygen or argon. More may be Syngas plants. Selas Fluid’s product portfolio "includes pyrolysis furnaces for olefin plants, EDC pyrolysis furnaces for vinyl plants, fired heaters for refinery and specialty chemical plants and thermal oxidation equipment" for super-hot hazardous waste incinerators.
According to the admirable Selas Fluids "Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ) Policy" signed by current and past Presidents and CEOs (posted at http://www.selasfluid.com/International/Web/LE/US/likelesfus.nsf/repositorybyalias/QHSE_Policy/$file/QHSE%20Policy%20SF.pdf),
"At Selas Fluid Processing Corporation, we do not want to harm people or the environment."
It is this reviewer's sincere hope that Linde LLC and the entire petrochemical industry that it increasingly serves will consider global atmospheric damage not as an unavoidable externality but as public harm to be vigorously avoided. Like most American's I believe it can be done. Unlike many, I believe this must be done if we are to preserve a living creation that is our dear and only home.
The Selas Fluid web site outlines their commitment:
"To achieve this vision, we Selas Fluid Processing Corporation are committed to the following:
- -Safety, health, care for the environment and quality are a pre-requisite to any business we undertake
- - We all take a personal responsibility for SHEQ
- - Managers at all levels demonstrate visible leadership
- - We apply this policy in our day to day behaviour and decisions
- - SHEQ is 100% of our behaviour, 100% of the time
"We strive to be leading in SHEQ to meet the following objectives:
- - Zero incidents
- - Zero harm to communities in which we do business
- - Safe, secure and healthy working conditions for all our people and all that work with us
- - Supplying safe, compliant and environmentally responsible products and services
- - Prevention of pollution to the environment
- - Responsible use of natural resources
- - Research, development and promotion of technologies, products and services that are sustainable with regard to SHEQ
- - Satisfy customer needs and expectations
"We will
- - Comply with all applicable legal, regulatory, internal and industry requirements
- - Pro-actively identify, eliminate or minimize potential sources of harm or risk arising from all our activities
- - Continuously improve our performance to achieve our objectives
- - Share our knowledge and experience in safety, health and care for the environment
- - Show our accountability for our performance by regularly measuring, reviewing and reporting
- - Require our contractors and partners to manage in line with this policy
- - Expect our clients and suppliers to cooperate actively in achieving our objectives
- - Provide training, standards, equipment and support to ensure compliance with this policy
- - Maintain open communication with our local communities and stakeholders
"This policy is a key part of The Linde Group’s overall strategy and is reviewed on a regular basis by The Linde Group executive management board.
At Selas Fluid Processing Corporation we use the acronym QHSE, as this is the term used by the majority of our clients. The content of the policy remains the same.
We give our personal commitment to the above policy which shall be fully implemented.
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Reitzle
Dr. Aldo Belloni
Georg Denoke
Dr. Samir Serhan
John McDermott"
Source:
http://www.selasfluid.com/International/Web/LE/US/likelesfus.nsf/repositorybyalias/QHSE_Policy/$file/QHSE%20Policy%20SF.pdf
last retrieved 2/1/2011.
For those interested, Selas Fluid contact info in PA and Houston, TX may be found at:
http://www.selasfluid.com/International/WEB/LE/US/likelesfus.nsf/docbyalias/nav_sflltest.
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