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A detailed kinetic model describing the consumption of key components and product distribution in the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) over a 20%Co/0.5Re γ‐Al2O3 commercial catalyst is developed. The developed model incorporates the H2O‐assisted CO dissociation mechanism developed by Rytter and Holmen and a novel approach to product distribution modeling. The model parameters are optimized against an experimental dataset comprising a range of process conditions: total pressure 2.0–2.2 MPa, temperature 210–230°C, CO conversion range of 10%–75% and feed with and without added water. The quality of the model fit measured in terms of mean absolute relative residuals (MARR) value is 23.1%, which is comparable to literature reported values. The developed model can accurately describe both positive and negative effects of water on the rate kinetics, the positive effect of water on the growth factor, temperature and syngas composition on the kinetics and product distribution over a wide range of process conditions, which is critical for the design and optimization of the Fisher–Tropsch reactors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A power and biomass to liquid process (PBtL) via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is exergetically analysed. Synthesis gas is generated through an entrained flow gasifier and extra hydrogen is produced through high temperature steam electrolysis in a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC). The gasification section of the process has the highest exergy destruction rate, followed by the Fischer-Tropsch and SOEC sections. To improve the process, the focus should be on the design and operation of these sections. The plant has an overall exergetic efficiency of 69%, evaluated as the ratio of the exergy of the products to the exergy of the biomass and electricity supplied to the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A membrane contactor process for pre-combustion CO 2 capture from shifted synthesis gas originated from IGCC power plant is assessed from the technical and economical point of views. The process is designed as pressure swing absorption and desorption in a closed loop. The design basis for process simulation were synthesis gas containing CO 2 and H 2 only, and the CO 2 capture efficiency was fixed to 90%. The CO 2 gas was absorbed in ionic liquid [bmim][TCM] inside a hydrophobic, porous hollow fibre membrane contactor. One-dimensional mathematical model of membrane contactor developed in MATLAB was integrated to the process simulation software (HYSYS) through Cape-Open simulation compiler. The energy evaluation of this process revealed that compressors are the most energy demanding process equipment. The specific energy requirement for this process is estimated 0.75 MJ/kg CO 2 . A parametric study was also performed to analyse the effect of CO 2 concentration in feed gas and liquid to gas ratio. The capital cost investment and total operating costs of CO 2 capture unit were also evaluated. The capital investment required for capturing 0.14 M ton CO 2 /year including CO 2 compression is 47.4 M $, and the operating cost per year is 9.04 M $. The membrane absorber contributed about 39% to total investment cost. The specific cost of this capture unit is calculated to be 87 $/ton CO 2 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The syngas production step is one of the most costly steps in a gas-to-liquid plant. Commonly, oxygen is used as an oxidant in the reforming step. However, through the introduction of microchannel reactors, the use of enriched air may be justified. The merits of using enriched air versus pure oxygen are analyzed by utilizing an autothermal reformer, with microchannel reactors in the once-through Fischer-Tropsch (FT) step. Pure oxygen is provided by a cryogenic air separation unit (ASU) and enriched air by use of air separation membranes. Pure oxygen requires a smaller FT reactor volume, which means lower reactor costs at the expense of having a costly cryogenic ASU to produce pure oxygen. The operating cost of the ASU is lower than that of the air membrane, but the installed cost is higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of the Fischer-Tropsch experiment with H 2 /CO = 2.13 at 210 °C with changes in CO conversion and water addition. [Display omitted] • Co-based catalyst developed WGS activity at low H 2 /CO ratio. • Water has a positive effect on C 5+ selectivity for all H 2 /CO ratios. • Re-oxidation of cobalt is proposed as the main deactivation mechanism caused by water. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis has been investigated over a commercial type cobalt-based catalyst (20 %Co/0.5 %Re/γ-Al 2 O 3) by varying the H 2 /CO ratio (2.55–1.12), CO conversion (15–75 %), reaction temperature (210 °C, 230 °C), and by adding water to the syngas. The experiments were conducted in a fixed bed reactor with the main purpose of obtaining experimental data to be used in the development and fitting of a mechanistic model. A positive effect of water on the catalyst activity was found for experiments with a H 2 /CO ratio higher than 1.7. Water was found to always increase the C 5+ selectivity regardless of the H 2 /CO ratio. Increasing conversion led to increased C 5+ selectivity. The selectivity to CO 2 was significantly enhanced at higher conversions (high water partial pressure), particularly with the lowest H 2 /CO = 1.12, interpreted as the emergence of water-gas shift activity. Re-oxidation of cobalt, probably limited to small cobalt particles, is proposed as the main deactivation mechanism caused by water while a steeper deactivation curve was found for higher temperature, indicating that sintering also may play a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work an industrial Biomass-To-Liquid (BTL) plant simulation and optimization are presented. Biomass is first gasified with oxygen and steam, and the produced syngas is fed to a multi-tubular fixed bed reactor for Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis, obtaining a distribution of hydrocarbons with different molecular weight. A simplified model for the biomass gasification section is implemented in HYSYS ® V8.4, while the Fischer-Tropsch reactor is simulated using MATLAB ® R2013a. The kinetic parameters of the FT reaction have been determined by using a non-liner regression performed with the experimenta data obtained with a bench-scale FT-rig. The model developed for the Fischer-Tropsch reactor takes into account the catalytic pellet's effectiveness factor and the eventual formation of a liquid phase in each point along reactor’s axial coordinate. The whole BTL plant is simulated connecting MATLAB and HYSYS. Moreover, the staging of the Fischer-Tropsch reactor is studied performing a techno-economic analysis of three different plant configurations and evaluating the corresponding pay-back time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Process concepts for making synthesis gas by solar thermochemical cycling have been screened. The produced gas is delivered at 70 °C, 5 bar pressure and with a H 2 /CO ratio of 2.0 which, with moderate adjustments, fit specifications of Fischer–Tropsch synthesis using a cobalt-based catalyst. The cobalt ferrite/alumina assisted hercynite cycle run adiabatically between 1350 and 1330 °C was selected for the study. HYSYS process simulations comprise six process combinations; quenching of hydrogen with CO 2 ; separate solar splitting of water and CO 2 ; vacuum depletion of oxygen in cobalt ferrite; flushing out oxygen with nitrogen produced cryogenically; and flushing with nitrogen from high temperature dense membranes. Calculated energy demand eliminates cryogenic concepts whereas the dense membranes require further study. Most promising is the water-only splitting pathway in combination with CO 2 quench and vacuum oxygen depletion. The alternative with separate H 2 O and CO 2 solar splitting benefits from half the amount of inert CO 2 in the produced syngas and 7% reduction in heliostat size, but suffers from technical challenges with high temperature heat exchangers and severe coking probability; and calculated 7% higher installed cost. The novel chemical quench method limits the use of high temperature heat exchangers to just one for the depleted oxygen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]