Shell Middle Distillates Synthesis

Fig. 3. The Shell middle distillate synthesis (SMDS) process. HPS = heavy paraffin synthesis. HPC = heavy paraffin conversion.

Fig. 4. Product compositions as a function of carbon number for the Shell middle distillate synthesis process (a) the Fischer-Tropsch product following...

SASOL South African operation of synthetic fuels plants SMDS Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis Process... 

Shell Gas B.V. has constructed a 1987 mVd (12,500 bbhd) Fischer-Tropsch plant in Malaysia, start-up occurring in 1994. The Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) process, as it is called, uses natural gas as the feedstock to fixed-bed reactors containing cobalt-based cat- yst. The heavy hydrocarbons from the Fischer-Tropsch reactors are converted to distillate fuels by hydrocracking and hydroisomerization. The quality of the products is very high, the diesel fuel having a cetane number in excess of 75. 

The development of the Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) process began in 1983, when a pilot plant was constructed at the Shell Research and Technology Centre in Amsterdam. This eventually culminated in the design and construction of the Shell gas-to-liquids facility in Bintulu, Malaysia, which was completed and... 

FIGURE 18.8 Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis process, Bintulu, Malaysia. 

Sie, S. T., Senden, M. M. G., andVanWechem, H. M. W. 1991. Conversion of natural gas to transportation fuels via the Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis process (SMDS). Catal. Today 8 371-94. 

Schrauwen, F. J. M. 2004. Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) process. In Handbook of petroleum refining processes, ed. R. A. Meyers, 15.25—40. New York McGraw-Hill. 

Shell materials. See also Microencapsulation biodegradable, 76 441-442 types of, 76 439t water-soluble, 76 456-457 Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) process, 6 778, 829... 

Consecutively, the heavy paraffins are cracked into lighter hydrocarbon fractions by hydro-cracking. For example, for the Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) process, the liquid product stream is composed of 60% gasoil (diesel), 25% kerosene and 15% naphtha. The gaseous product mainly consists of LPG (a mixture of propane and butane) (Eilers et al., 1990). Figure 7.3 shows a simplified diagram comprising all process steps to produce synthetic hydrocarbons from biomass, natural gas and coal. 

Qatar Shell and Qatar Petroleum Shell middle distillate synthesis (SMDS) fixed-bed technology 140000 2009 (first train of 70000 bpd)/2010 (second train of 70000 bpd)... 

The FT process is well known and already applied on a large scale [9,10,11,12]. Currently, the two players that operate commercial Fischer-Tropsch plants are Shell and Sasol. In the Sasol and Shell plants gasification of coal and partial oxidation of natural gas, respectively, produce the syngas for the FT synthesis with well-defined compositions. Shell operates the SMDS (Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis) process in Bintulu, Malaysia, which produces heavy waxes with a cobalt catalyst in multi-tubular fixed bed reactors. Sasol in South Afirica uses iron catalysts and operates several types of reactors, of which the slurry bubble column reactor is the most versatile (i.e. applied in the Sasol Slurry Phase Distillate SSPD),... 

Typical equipment Sasol Synthol CFB Sasol Advanced Synthol (SAS) Sasol Arge Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) Sasol Slurry Bed Reactor (SSBR) Exxon mobile demonstration Conoco demonstration... 

SMDS. See reactor, Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis... 

Wax isomerisation In principle, any of the existing processes for upgrading crude oil fractions such as hydrocracking, hydrotreatment and isomerisation can be used to convert the waxy hydrocarbons into useful base oils. Mild hydrotreatment can be useful for converting any olefins and alcohols but the preferred process makes use of isomerisation as hydrocracking tends to be used to produce GTL diesel fuel. The iso-de-waxing process described previously in Section 1.5.5 is particularly effective as is also the Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis process that combines hydrocracking and isomerisation over a dual-function catalyst. Typical conditions use a platinum catalyst on an alumina-silica support with a pressure of 30 bar and temperature of 350°C [35]. 

THE SHELL MIDDLE DISTILLATE SYNTHESIS PROCESS M.J. v.d. Burgt and C.J. van Leeuwen... 

A description is given of the Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) process. In this two-stage process, which has been developed specifically for the production of middle distillates, a liquid product is obtained which consists typically of naphtha, kerosine and gasoil in the ratios 15 25 60 to 25 50 25. 

SHELL MIDDLE DISTILLATE SYNTHESIS SIMPLIFIED FLOW SCHEME... 

Source J. Eilers, S. A. Posthuma, and S. T. Flie, The Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis Process (SMDS), Catalysis Letters 7 253-270 (1990). With permission. 

In the Shell Middle Distillates Synthesis (SMDS) process starting from natural gas, the reactor configuration chosen for the first commercial unit in Malaysia, successfully commercialized in 1993, is the multi-tubular downflow trickle bed with catalyst inside the tubes (Sie et al., 1991) see Fig. 30e. Because of the enormous exothermicity of the synthesis reaction and the relatively poor heat transfer an extremely large heat transfer area is required. The reactor volume is largely governed by the installable heat transfer area in a vessel of given volume. Use of the multi-tubular three-phase fluidized bed or slurry reactor (see Fig. 30k and 301) provides much better heat transfer characteristics (an improvement of a factor of five over fixed bed units) and could lead to considerably lower reactor volumes. However, the anticipated scale-up problems with three-phase... 

---