Frequently Asked Questions

What is Torqazine?

Torqazine is an oxycarbon fuel product created by a traditional Fischer-Tropsch methanization GTL process utilizing a proprietary catalyst and trade secret processes. These processes selectively catalyze synthesis gas creating a 100% biodegradable, water soluble product which can be marketed as a superior 10.25% oxygenate or in a Torq-85% blend in properly adjusted engines. Torqazine is a high performance fuel that can be safely used in virtually all gasoline and diesel engines.

T-Diesel™ is a clean, superior, 20/80 blend offering cost-savings and pollution reduction.

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How Does Torqazine Manufacture Compare to Ethanol Production?

Torqazine is an extremely clean oxycarbon fuel and the plants that manufacture it will be clean as well. Conversely, ethanol plants (fermented grain alcohol) produce a wide range and large volumes of various harmful emissions. Ethanol plants are responsible for huge emissions of CO2 and other chemicals.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency estimates that each ethanol plant produces more than 100 tons per year of volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde (potential carcinogens) 2-furaldehyde, methanol, acetic acid, lactic acid and acrolein, which have been shown to be toxic to the upper respiratory systems in animals.

Ethanol fermentation plants also have large volumes of physical byproducts that must either be sold or disposed of. Ethanol plants emit noxious odors that are irritating to individuals living nearby. In addition, ethanol fermentation plants use large volumes of process water that must be treated and properly disposed of. Since ethanol must be denatured with about 5% gasoline or other hydrocarbon compounds before leaving the ethanol manufacturing facility so it is no longer consumable, it is no longer a truly biodegradable alcohol.

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What is gasification?

Gasification is a process that converts carbonaceous materials, such as coal, petroleum coke, municipal solid waste or petroleum into carbon monoxide and hydrogen by reacting the raw material at high temperatures with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam.

The resulting mixture is called synthesis gas or syngas and is itself a fuel. Gasification is a very efficient method for extracting energy from many different types of organic materials.

The advantage of gasification is that using the syngas is potentially more efficient than direct combustion of the original fuel because it can be combusted at higher temperatures.

Syngas may be burned directly in internal combustion engines, used to produce methanol and hydrogen, or converted via the Fischer-Tropsch process into synthetic fuels.

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What is Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) Technology?

Torqazine can be profitably produced in abundance utilizing widely available carbonaceous feedstocks. The synthetic fuels process uses proven GTL technologies. Feedstocks used to synthesize Torqazine include natural gas, coal, petroleum coke, sewer sludge, municipal solid waste, agricultural waste, and landfill gas (LFG).

These feedstocks provide carbon and hydrogen which are processed through a Fischer-Tropsch fixed-bed chemical reactor, common in the GTL process industry. The Fischer-Tropsch process was originally developed by Germany during WWII to provide fuel in the absence of domestic supplies of refined gasoline.

Production of Torqazine is a GTL process synthetic fuels technology nearly identical to technologies major oil companies and others worldwide have invested billions of dollars to implement. The major differences between PPE’s and other companies' GTL technologies are:

  • type of synthetic fuel produced – higher mixed alcohols versus synthetic diesel, oils and waxes
  • catalysts used
  • process efficiency – based on natural gas feedstock it requires about 6 million Btu to produce a barrel of Torqazine versus generally more than 10-12 million Btu to produce a barrel of synthetic diesel using natural gas. This means our process is roughly twice as productive as fuel synthesis methods currently in use
  • process temperatures, flow rates and process pressures
  • lower production cost
  • ability to completely separate and sequester carbon dioxide

Both Torqazine (a mixed alcohol fuel) and the oil industry's synthetic white crude oil share the characteristic of being sulfur free. The similarities end here.

Torqazine is 100% water soluble, naturally biodegrading in air, land and water environments. Industry white crude floats on water (causing pollution).

Torqazine fuel moves through a unique catalyst and finishes as pure, oxygenated, biodegradable fuel in one pass. Synthetic oil is considerably more expensive to produce, usually requiring multiple passes through refinery operations to break down its long-chain paraffin waxes through hydrocracking into naphtha, diesel and leftover waxes.

Because we strip the CO2 from the product during the manufacturing process, Torqazine is less caustic than ethanol and requires little, if any, modification to conventional pumping equipment.

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Explain the syngas "purification" process. What are the individual steps?

The gasification process partially oxidizes the MSW feedstock, creating a synthetic gas that consists primarily of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Carbon dioxide and other acid gases are also formed in lesser concentrations. Downstream of the gasifier is an acid adsorption unit, such as the commercialized Amisol process developed by Lurgi, to separate and collect the CO2. Some of the CO2 is re-used in the gasification process to create additional syngas in the form of CO; the rest will be compressed to a liquid for sale.

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