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

Abstract

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 kg cat −1 h −1 compared to 0.12 kg kg cat −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 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).