Hydrocol process

Natural Gas Upgrading via Fischer-Tropsch. In the United States, as in other countries, scarcities from World War II revived interest in the synthesis of fuel substances. A study of the economics of Fischer synthesis led to the conclusion that the large-scale production of gasoline from natural gas offered hope for commercial utiHty. In the Hydrocol process (Hydrocarbon Research, Inc.) natural gas was treated with high purity oxygen to produce the synthesis gas which was converted in fluidized beds of kon catalysts (42). 

To illustrate generically the integrated Hydrocol process, Figure 9 has been included. 

Another field in which azeotropic distillation is finding application is in the separation of the complex mixtures of organic acids, aldehydes, ketones, and alcohols produced by the Hydrocol process. As petroleum stocks are utilized more and more for the production of chemicals, processing of azeotropic mixtures and the use of azeotropic separations should assume increasingly greater importance. 

The summary withdrawal of Indiana s support was all the more galling to Mr. Kellogg because it meant Indiana had selected a rival company, Hydrocarbon Research, Inc., to be its partner in development, design, and construction of a hydrocarbon synthesis facility. Mr. P. C. ( Dobie ) Keith had founded Hydrocarbon Research for the specific purpose of developing an American version of Germany s Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Keith s Hydrocol Process would use bubbling fluid bed reactors. 

The Fischer-Tropsch synthesis produces hydrocarbons from Hj and CO. Fluid beds were applied to it in the Hydrocol process using ordinary turbulent beds and in the Kellogg process using fast beds (Fig. 1). Development of the Hydrocol process has been reported by Grekel et al. (G15) and Hall and Taylor (HI). The main difficulties in scale-up of these fluidized beds were incomplete fluidization and low conversion. 

On the basis of this experience with the Hydrocol process, Volk et al. (V12) proposed providing internals in fluid beds in order to achieve good... 

The synthesis of hydrocarbons from and CO is strongly exothermic. The Hydrocol process mentioned in Section I is a modified Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, using powdered iron catalyst in a dense-phase fluidized bed. In spite of elaborate scale-up based on intensive research, many problems arose in commercial plants, and the operation was terminated in 1957 for economic reasons (Z5). 

The main steps of the Hydrocol process, converting natural gas to gasoline, are ... 

Table VIII presents results of analytical investigations made by Bruner (Texas Co., Beacon, New York). The hydrocarbons of the Hydrocol process are predominantly olefinic, with straight-chain or singlo-branched structure and with double bonds mostly in the 1-position and not adjacent to the branching. Cyclic compounds are present as minor constituents and contain cyclic aliphatic homologs as well as benzene homologs.

The HTFT two-phase fluid bed concept was the basis used for the Hydrocol process, the world s first GTL commercial plant that was in operation in Brownsville, Texas in the 1950s. This reactor technology has now been perfected by Sasol and is used in the world s largest FT application at Secunda, South Africa. 

Fluidized Catalyst Reactor. Two systems have been proposed, based on large scale operation of the Fischer-Tropsch process (to produce liquid hydrocarbons) at SASOL and at Carthage Hydrocol. The SASOL system was designed by M. W. Kellogg and has been operating for about 20 years (57, 58, 59, 60). 

After the Second World War a gas-to-liquids facility that employed an iron-based high-temperature Fischer-Tropsch (Fe-HTFT) process was constructed at Brownsville, Texas. The technology was developed by Hydrocarbon Research, Inc.,20 and the commercial facility was operated by the Carthage Hydrocol Company. The Hydrocol plant was in commercial operation during the period 1951-1957, and it was shut down mainly for economic reasons (the oil price was around US 2 per barrel at that time). 

Composition of the C3 and Heavier Gas and Oil Fractions from the Syncrude Produced by the Hydrocol Fe-HTFT Process... 

The Arge Fe-LTFT syncrude (Table 18.8)29 was much heavier than the syncrude of the two German Co-LTFT processes (Table 18.2). The Arge Fe-LTFT syncrude exemplified a high a-value Fischer-Tropsch product with a significant linear paraffinic wax fraction. The syncrude (Table 18.8) from the Kellogg Fe-HTFT synthesis was very similar in carbon number distribution to that of Hydrocol Fe-HTFT synthesis (Table 18.5). 

Hydrocol A process for making gasoline from natural gas. Partial combustion with oxygen yields syngas, which is catalytically converted to gasoline in a fluidized bed containing an... 

Volk et al. (V12) used vertical surfaces (tubes or half-rounds) with success in a version of the Hydrocol synthesis known as the HRI process. The conversion of CO gas for several reactor diameters was correlated by the following equivalent diameter ... 

Section, which appears every month. It also has a special section on Patents which lists new patents according to their classification. The Process Issue of the Petroleum Refiner is now carrying a special section on Petrochemical Processes. In the September 1952 issue for example, Extractive Distillation for Aromatic Recovery, Modified SO2 Extraction for Aromatic Recovery, Udex Extraction, Ethylene Manufacture by Cracking, Ethylene Production, Hypersorption, Hydrocol, Dehydrogenation (for butadiene), and Butadiene Process, were described. These descriptions include the main essentials of the process, simplified flow diagrams, and the name of the company offering it. Formerly these processes were described under the Process Section. 

The first post-war FT plant was operated in the early 1950s by a consortium lead by Texaco operated the 4 500 bpd Carthage Hydrocol plant in Brownsville, Texas. Natural gas was used as feedstock, making this the first GTL plant. The primary product for this iron catalyst based HTFT process was the production of 82 octane gasoline (10). The process scheme for this plant is shown in Figure 2. 

Figure 2 - Process Scheme of the Carthage Hydrocol plant in Brownsville, Texas...

Fig. 248. Temperature depen nce of the storage modulus during cooling (O) or heating ( ) processes for a 1% gellan solution in the presence of 5.1 mmol/1 CaCl2 angular frequency 1.0 rad/s. Reproduced from Food Hydrocoll [Rrf 590] by the courtesy of the authors and of Oxford...

Okiyama A, Motoki M, Yamanaka S (1993b) Bacterial cellulose IV. Application to processed foods. Food Hydrocoll 6 503-511... 

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