German technology, Fischer-Tropsch

The principal advance ia technology for SASOL I relative to the German Fischer-Tropsch plants was the development of a fluidized-bed reactor/regenerator system designed by M. W. Kellogg for the synthesis reaction. The reactor consists of an entrained-flow reactor ia series with a fluidized-bed regenerator (Fig. 14). Each fluidized-bed reactor processes 80,000 m /h of feed at a temperature of 320 to 330°C and 2.2 MPa (22 atm), and produces approximately 300 m (2000 barrels) per day of Hquid hydrocarbon product with a catalyst circulation rate of over 6000 t/h (49). 

A very key area of our in-house work is in liquefaction. Historically, we initiated the liquefaction program in the late 40fs in Fischer-Tropsch work and coal hydrogenation. At that time, much of World War II German technologies had been tested and a further research program was built on top of that at PETC. 

Fischer-Tropsch. The process most frequently considered for indirect coal liquefaction is the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis, developed in 1925 by German chemists Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch. In the F-T process, synthesis gas is reacted over a catalyst, typically iron or cobalt based, at 1-30 atm and 200-350°C to produce a wide range of mainly aliphatic hydrocarbons, including gas, LPG, gasoline, jet fuel, diesel oil, middle distillates, heavy oil, and waxes. Germany used this technology during World War II to produce nearly 15,000 barrels/day of military fuels. 

Hans Tropsch (1889-1935) A German chemist born in German Bohemia (now Czech Republic). From 1920 until 1928 he worked ai the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Coal Research both with Franz Fischer and Otto Roelen. in 1928 he became professor at the Institute for Coal Research in Prague. From 1931 until 1935, he worked in the United States at the Armour Institute of Technology in Chicago. Owing to an illness he returned to Germany in 1935, where he died shortly after his arrival. 

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