The technology to turn methane in to methanol and then use a catalyst to covert it into gasoline has been around for years. Mobil's ZSM-5 catalyst has been patented and used since around the late 1970's, introduced in the world's first Synthetic fuel plant just down the road from me. Unfortunately at the time, oil priced dropped dramatically and as it required oil to be about $30 a barrel, it was uneconomic as the product requires further refinement, and eventually it was sold and used as a straight methanol plant since methanol was returning a higher price per unit, but with today's prices I am sure that with a good source of reliable methane, such a plant could be making money hand over fist.
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