(560ev) Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis in Microscale-Based Reactor, Experimental and Mathematical Modeling

Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) is a surface-catalyzed polymerization process in the presence of cobalt, iron or ruthenium that converts synthesis gas into a wide range of long chain hydrocarbons (olefins, paraffins, isomers), oxygenates, CO₂ and water. The adsorbed synthesis gas (H₂ and CO) molecules react on the surface of a catalyst to form monomers (CH_x). These monomers act as building blocks that further react to give a wide range of products. The products of the reaction include jet fuel, naphtha and diesel.

The goals of this study is to design and construct a microchannel reactor that demonstrates a low selectivity to methane and high yield of naphtha and diesel range hydrocarbons. In addition, a modeling developed to simulate the experimental system. The model incorporates chemical reaction kinetics to represent all elementary reaction kinetics and process model includes the fluidics, mass transport and reaction kinetics for the microscale reactor.

Our investigation of FTS in a microreactor examines the effects of operating conditions including pressure, temperature, residence time and flow ratio on the performance of the reactor. In this contribution, we will present the effort to improve low methane and high range hydrocarbons selectivity, and will also discuss some important features of the microreactor FTS system. Included is a computational model of the system and its outputs.