PNNL

Abstract

A microchannel catalytic reactor with improved heat and mass transport has been used for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to produce fuels and chemicals. This type of novel reactor takes advantages of highly active and selective catalysts with increased site density so that the FT synthesis process can be intensified. It was demonstrated that this microchannel reactor based process can be carried out at gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) as high as 60,000 hr-1 to achieve greater than 60% of one-pass CO conversion while maintaining low methane selectivity (0.9). Such superior FT synthesis performance has not ever been reported in the prior open literatures. The overall productivity to heavy hydrocarbons has been significantly improved over the conventional reactor technology. In this study, performance data were obtained in a wide range of pressure (10atm-35atm) and hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio (1-2.5). The catalytic system was characterized by BET, scanning electron microcopy (SEM), transmission electron microcopy(TEM), and H2 chemisorption. A three dimensional pseudo-homogeneous model were used to simulate temperature profiles in the exothermic reaction system in order to optimize the reactor design and intensify the synthesis process. Intraparticle non-isothermal characteristics are also analyzed for the FT synthesis catalyst.