MOUNTAIN LION: It was about a week ago now, a worker at a Custer
City residence saw a mountain lion on the property. We’re told this
individual is a seasoned hunter and would know a mountain lion – as
opposed to a bobcat – when he sees one. This is not the first time
we’ve had a report of the big cat in this vicinity.

‘NEW’ METHOD: It was more than 100 years ago when a Bradford man
came up with a process to turn natural gas into gasoline.

That’s what we were told a couple weeks ago by Clyde Johnson of
Port Allegany, reporting on a 1907 invention by Dr. August J. Paris
Jr. of Bradford.

Clyde’s information, reported in Round the Square, caught the
eye of Larry R. Fay of Anchorage, Alaska, who sent along an article
which said a Texas company had perfected the system enough to make
such a process economically feasible.

Synfuels, according to the article, has operated a demonstration
facility in Texas since 2005, and its gas-to-liquid technology is
cost efficient enough to allow natural gas to be converted into
gasoline.

“A Texas company says that it has developed a cheaper and
cleaner way to convert natural gas into gasoline and other liquid
fuels, making it economical to tap natural-gas reserves that in the
past have been too small or remote to develop,” the article
says.

“The company behind the technology, Dallas-based Synfuels
International, says that the process uses fewer steps and is far
more efficient than more established techniques based on the
Fischer-Tropsch process. This process converts natural gas into
syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide; a catalyst then
causes the carbon and hydrogen to reconnect in new compounds, such
as alcohols and fuels. Nazi Germany used the Fischer-Tropsch
process to convert coal and coal-bed methane into diesel during
World War II.

“A Synfuels gas-to-liquids (GTL) refinery goes through several
steps to convert natural gas into gasoline but claims to do so with
better overall efficiency,” the article said.

The price? About ,25 a barrel which, as we all know, is far
cheaper than the going price of crude oil.

Under current fuel prices, such a plant could pay for itself in
as little as four years, the company said.

We thank Larry for passing along this interesting article.