Production of Synthetic Fuels from Natural Gas and Bio-Based Feedstock

Ceramatec has been developing a system for production of liquid hydrocarbons from natural gas, coal, biomass, and biogas from anaerobic digesters.  The work has been done for the Office of Naval Research, the State of Wyoming, and several private companies.  Ceramatec is currently operating an integrated Gas-To-Liquids (GTL) system that produces about ¼ barrel per day (BPD) of Fischer Tropsch (FT) liquids when operated at full capacity.  The system produces synthesis gas using a non-thermal plasma reformer.  The synthesis gas is pressurized, stored in pressure tanks as a buffer, and supplied to a proprietary FT reactor.  This reactor is operating with a Ceramatec produced catalyst (cobalt – ruthenium) on a manganese promoted alumina substrate.  The system uses a fixed-bed reactor with a synthesis gas recycle loop and liquid cooling.  

The presentation will discuss the process flow of the existing test facility and present a mass – energy balance on the system at a designated operating point.  Data on the radial and axial reactor temperature gradients will also be presented.  The catalyst characterization will be discussed and the resultant carbon number distribution on the generated Fischer Tropsch product shown.  An artist’s conception of a ten (10) BPD pilot facility currently under consideration will also be shown and discussed.  The capital costs for a two thousand (2000) BPD demonstration facility will be presented.