Abstract: Provided is a flexible tube which is used to load fluid from a floating facility on the sea onto a tanker, which is suitable for transport of cryogenic fluid such as LNG, and which is capable of quickly and reliably detecting leakage of the fluid in the tube. Also provided is a structure for detecting leakage of fluid in a tube. A water impermeable and heat insulating layer is provided on the outer periphery of a heat insulating layer. The water impermeable and heat insulating layer, together with the heat insulating layer, thermally insulates LNG flowing through a corrugated tube from the outside of a flexible tube. Unlike the heat insulating layer, the water impermeable and heat insulating layer is poor in liquid permeability, and fluid such as LNG hardly permeates the water impermeable and heat insulating layer. That is, the water impermeable and heat insulating layer serves as a water impermeable layer between the inside and outside of the water impermeable and heat insulating layer.

Abstract: In a so-called GTL process for producing liquid hydrocarbons containing fuel oil by producing synthesis gas from natural gas, subsequently producing Fischer-Tropsch oil from the obtained synthesis gas by way of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and upgrading the produced Fischer-Tropsch oil, the synthesis gas produced from a synthesis gas production step is partly branched at a stage prior to getting to a Fischer-Tropsch oil production step and high-purity hydrogen is separated and produced from the synthesis gas entering the branch line. All the separated high-purity hydrogen is supplied to an upgrading reaction step and consumed as hydrogen for an upgrading reaction. Additionally, the synthesis gas entering the branch line is subjected to a water gas shift reaction to raise the hydrogen concentration before the step of separating and producing high-purity hydrogen and the residual gas left after the separation may be circulated to the synthesis gas production step as raw material for producing synthesis gas.

Abstract: Provided are a fluid conveying tube and a fluid leakage detecting system which can convey a cryogenic fluid such as LNG and which can quickly and reliably detect leakage of the fluid within the tube and the position of the leakage. An optical fiber 17 is continuously wound over the entire length of a flexible tube 1a. Leakage information detected by an optical fiber temperature sensor 21 is transmitted via a terminal 25a to an externally provided temperature measurement device. Meanwhile, when similar leakage occurs in the vicinity of a coupling section 3, the gas pressure inside the heat insulating layer 13a or the like increases due to the pressure of LNG within a corrugated tube 11 or a pressure generated as a result of evaporation of LNG. When the pressure inside the heat insulating layer 13a increases, information representing a change in the gas pressure is transmitted to a terminal 25b via a hollow pipe 27.

Abstract: In a so-called GTL process of producing synthesis gas from natural gas, producing Fischer-Tropsch oil by way of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of the obtained synthesis gas and producing liquid hydrocarbons containing fuel oil by upgrading, the synthesis gas produced from the synthesis gas production step is partly branched off prior to getting to the Fischer-Tropsch oil production step and the synthesis gas entering the branch line is subjected to a water gas shift reaction to raise the hydrogen concentration thereof. Subsequently, high-purity hydrogen is isolated from the synthesis gas and the residual gas left after the isolation is circulated to the synthesis gas production step and used as raw material for synthesis gas production. As a result, a significant improvement can be achieved in terms of raw material consumption per product of the entire process.

Abstract: In a GTL process of producing various kinds of hydrocarbon oils from natural gas, provided is improved heat efficiency in the case of using a steam reforming process or a carbon dioxide reforming process in the reforming. The process includes producing a synthesis gas by converting the natural gas and at least one of steam and carbon dioxide into a synthesis gas through a tubular reformer filled with a reforming catalyst, producing Fischer-Tropsch oil by subjecting the produced synthesis gas to a Fischer-Tropsch reaction, and upgrading in which the Fischer-Tropsch oil is subjected to hydrotreatment and distillation to produce various kinds of hydrocarbon oils, in which excess heat generated in the synthesis gas production is recovered, and the recovered heat is used as heat for at least one of hydrotreatment and distillation in the upgrading.

Abstract: An exemplary method for producing a catalyst is provided where the catalyst includes a catalyst support on which a metallic compound is loaded. An impurity content of the catalyst can be in a range of approximately 0.01 mass % to 0.15 mass %. In particular, the exemplary method can include pre-treating the catalyst support to lower an impurity concentration of the catalyst support, and loading the metallic compound on the catalyst support after the pretreatment procedure.

Abstract: An object is to provide a method capable of boring a borehole even when quartz glass or silicon dioxide is deposited as molten dross by laser irradiation. A laser irradiation position of a workpiece is irradiated with a laser having wavelength of 1.2 ?m or longer and a high factor of absorption into liquid, for example, a CO2 laser, from a laser oscillator through liquid. By high pressure generated in an advancing microbubble flow occurring in the liquid, molten dross is scattered. Thus, the processing, such as boring, of the rock is performed.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a catalyst which, in the FT process, exhibits a high chain growth probability, and a high catalytic activity, can stably and smoothly promote the reaction, exhibits a high productivity of C5+, and can efficiently produce liquid hydrocarbons, and a process therefore. The invention relates to a hydrocarbon-producing catalyst obtainable by supporting a ruthenium compound on a support composed of a manganese oxide and an aluminum oxide, and which satisfies at least one of characteristics (1) and (2): (1) the catalyst being treated with an aqueous alkaline solution and subsequently subjected to calcination treatment in the air at 150 to 500° C., (2) the aluminum oxide being an aluminum oxide wherein pore volume formed by pores having a pore diameter of 8 nm or more accounts for 50% or more of total pore volume.

Abstract: To provide a method for hydrotreating a synthetic hydrocarbon oil, which removes olefins and oxygen-containing compounds by hydrotreatment with the gasification rate restrained and can efficiently convert the synthetic hydrocarbon oil generated by the FT process to a liquid fuel suitable as a fuel for diesel-powered vehicles. A hydrotreating method in which a synthetic hydrocarbon oil generated by FT synthesis is hydrotreated using a catalyst in which a definite catalytic metal is allowed to be carried on a support, under definite reaction conditions, with the gasification rate restrained to a definite value or less, thereby removing the olefins and the oxygen-containing compounds.

Abstract: A porous preform (carrier) is soaked in an impregnating solution, which contains both of a catalytic-activity constituent, e.g. Ni and/or Co, and a carrier-forming constituent, e.g. Mg, Al, Zr, Ti and/or Ca, so as to simultaneously infiltrate the catalytic-activity and carrier-forming constituents into the porous preform. The impregnated preform is dried, calcined at a temperature of 700° C. or higher and then activated at a temperature of 500° C. or higher, whereby fine catalytic-activity particles are distributed on a surface of the porous carrier with high dispersion. Due to finely-distributed catalytic-activity particles, the surface of the catalyst is prevented from deposition of carbonaceous matters during reformation of hydrocarbon and held in an active state over a long term.

Abstract: Synthesis gas for FT synthesis is produced using a producing apparatus including an active carbon adsorbing vessel for adsorbing impurities in a natural gas, a hydro-desulfurizer for hydrogenating and desulfurizing sulfur content in the natural gas under a condition of a partial pressure of hydrogen of 100 to 200 kPa, a second hydrogen supplying line for supplying hydrogen to the natural gas between the hydro-desulfurizer and a reactor, the reactor for obtaining synthesis gas by reacting the natural gas, carbon dioxide and steam in the presence of a catalyst for reforming, and a heat recovering boiler for cooling the synthesis gas at a cooling rate of 2000 to 4000° C./second.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a catalyst which, in the FT process, exhibits a high chain growth probability, and a high catalytic activity, can stably and smoothly promote the reaction, exhibits a high productivity of C5+, and can efficiently produce liquid hydrocarbons, and a process therefor. The invention relates to a hydrocarbon-producing catalyst obtainable by supporting a ruthenium compound on a support composed of a manganese oxide and an aluminum oxide, and which satisfies at least one of characteristics (1) and (2): (1) the catalyst being treated with an aqueous alkaline solution and subsequently subjected to calcination treatment in the air at 150 to 500° C., (2) the aluminum oxide being an aluminum oxide wherein pore volume formed by pores having a pore diameter of 8 nm or more accounts for 50% or more of total pore volume.