Modeling of Multitubular Reactors for Iron- and Cobalt-Catalyzed Fischer–Tropsch Syntheses for Application in a Power-to-Liquid Process

Titelangaben

Kaiser, Philipp ; Jess, Andreas:
Modeling of Multitubular Reactors for Iron- and Cobalt-Catalyzed Fischer–Tropsch Syntheses for Application in a Power-to-Liquid Process.
In: Energy Technology. Bd. 2 (2014) Heft 5 . - S. 486-497.
ISSN 2194-4296
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ente.201300189

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Abstract

Two-dimensional reactor modeling for iron- and cobalt-catalyzed Fischer–Tropsch syntheses (FTS) is shown within this work. The modeling includes the intrinsic and effective kinetics of the FT-reaction and side reactions such as methanation and water–gas shift (WGS), that is, the influence of pore diffusion was considered for both catalysts (Fe, Co). A parametric study was used to identify the most important parameters for designing a technical multitubular FT reactor; which include superficial velocity, tube diameter, and cooling temperature. Based on these considerations, optimized case simulations of a single reactor tube were performed to calculate the catalyst performance; the cobalt catalyst showed a productivity of 0.17 kg C 2+ kgcat−1 h−1 compared to 0.12 kg C 2+ kgcat−1 h−1 obtained with iron. Moreover, basic data for an industrial power-to-liquid (PTL) plant are outlined. An iron-based plant can produce 75 kt C 2+ per year using a reactor with approximately 2600 single tubes with a diameters of 6 cm. In contrast, for the cobalt-catalyzed reaction, the same production volume requires a reactor with 8000 single tubes (of 3 cm diameter).