Modeling of Fischer–tropsch Synthesis Packed Bed Reactor for Producing Liquid Fuels from Natural Gas

A tubular pilot scale fixed-bed reactor for the Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) was simulated to numerically demonstrate the conversion of synthesis gas (CO+H2) to higher hydrocarbons over an iron based catalyst. The reactor was a 3.1 cm diameter and 2.75 m length steel tube. The feed temperature were between 563583 K. Saturated water was employed to control the peak temperature within the catalyst bed, which is critical for the stability of iron based catalyst. In this research, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to model the interacting phenomena such as non-ideality of mixture, reaction and hydrodynamics in a fixed-bed reactor for the FTS. Synthesis gas conversion, product selectivity, and temperature were measured as a function of reactor length. FTS can be conducted with very low temperature range between 563 and 583K within a wide range of CO conversion using saturated water as coolant. By using saturated water, reactor exhibited good isothermal condition under most simulated conditions. Very good agreement between pilot experimental data and the model was achieved. Results show that increase in feed temperature have a significant effect on the yield of products.