Reactor approaches for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

Center for Applied Energy Research, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA 

The reactor is an essential component of the conduct of catalytic reactions. However, the reactor cannot improve the performance of a catalyst it can only decrease its performance. Badger [1] outlined how early reactor engineering developments occur. He indicates that initial developments usually utilize makeshift reactors. Only later will a sudden advance in engineering lead to an improvement in equipment that will offer a great advance in unit operations. As understanding of the advance develops, varieties of the new advance are introduced. Further along, these varied developments are narrowed into one or a limited number of reactors. The industry then settles on these few reactors until another 

Multiphase Catalytic Reactors Theory, Design, Manufacturing, and Applications, First Edition. Edited by Zeynep Ilsen Onsan and Ahmet Kerim Avci. 2016 John Wiley Sons, Inc. Published 2016 by John WUey Sons, Inc. 

National Science and Technology Council, September 1999 Washington, D.C. 

In addition to the commercial reactors, the Germans tested at the lab or pilot scale many types of reactors. These reactors are included in the reviews mentioned later in the text and will not be described, except for work with the slurry bubble column reactor and the foam reactor. 

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This study explores the potential of periodic operation for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis aiming at Diesel range products. The approach followed is modeling the process in a dynamic form using a simple CSTR reactor configuration. The kinetic scheme is based on steady-state data reported in literature. The steady-state behavior is in agreement with experimental observations reported earlier by various research groups. 

In Section 6.11, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis in a multitube reactor was used as an example to illustrate the differences between the one- and two-dimensional approaches for the simulation of cooled fixed bed reactors. For o-xylene oxidation to phthalic anhydride, only the two-dimensional reactor model is considered. 

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