Experimental Study of Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis Using Nitrogen-Containing Synthesis Gas at Different Pressures of Synthesis

The effect of the dilution of a synthesis gas with nitrogen on the activity, selectivity and productivity of a Fischer–Tropsch reactor with a fixed bed of granular catalyst during synthesis on a pilot plant of a full cycle for the conversion of natural gas into synthetic oil is studied experimentally. Experimental data are presented that were obtained at different contents of nitrogen in the synthesis gas: up to 2, 50, and 70%. Analysis of the experimental data shows that diluting the synthesis gas contributes to an increase in the selectivity to C5+, and a decrease in the selectivity to methane. A drop in the reactor’s productivity observed upon the dilution of synthesis gas can be compensated for by increasing the consumption of synthesis gas. The negative effect of decrease in the pressure of FT synthesis from 2 to 1.5 and 1.0 MPa on the catalytic FT synthesis performed on a twice-diluted synthesis gas at a synthesis gas space velocity of 4000 h–1 is demonstrated.