Modeling and Optimization of Slurry Reactor in Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Chemical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology

Abstract

In recent years, the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis has been considered as an important chemical process for natural gas conversion to liquid fuels. The abundant availability of natural gas and the increasing demand for different hydrocarbon products such as olefins, diesel, and waxes have led to a high level of interest to further develop this process. In this study, a multicomponent reaction engineering model for a slurry bubble column reactor on a commercial scale is developed in order to study the effects of different parameters on product distribution. The modeling results show that different parameters such as temperature, operating pressure, catalyst holdup, and superficial gas velocity affect the syngas conversion and carbon product distribution. In order to maximize the rato of different hydrocarbons products to all the products, the optimization of the operating parameters has been carried out using several optimization techniques such as genetic algorithm (GA), simulated annealing (SA), and gradient method. According to the optimization results, a high H2/CO ratio and low catalyst holdup are required to maximize naphtha, diesel, and wax products relative to the other products. On the other hand, a low H2/CO ratio and high catalyst holdup are required to maximize the olefin products relative to the other products. Moreover, high pressure has a positive impact on the all the products.
 

Keywords

References

[1]. Van der Laan G. P. and Beenackers A. A. C. M., “Hydrocarbon selectivity model for the gas-solid fischer-tropsch synthesis on precipitated iron catalysts,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 38, pp. 1277-1290, 1999.##
[2]. Fabiano A. and Fernandes N., “Modeling and product grade optimization of fischer-tropsch synthesis in a slurry reactor,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 45, pp. 1047-1057, 2006.##
[3]. Fabiano A. and Fernandes N., “Optimization of fischer-tropsch synthesis using neuralnetworks,”Chem. Eng.       Technol. Vol. 29, pp. 449-453, 2006.##
[4]. Maretto C., Krishna R., “Modelling of a bubble column slurry reactor for Fischer Tropsch synthesis,” Catalysis Today, Vol. 52, pp. 279-289, 1999.##
[5]. Marano J. J. and Holder G. D., “Characterization of Fischer-Tropsch liquids for vapor- liquid equilibria calculations,” Fluid Phase Equilibria, Vol. 138, pp. 1–21, 1997.##
[6]. Bayat M., Rahimpour M. R., Moghtaderi B., “Genetic algorithm strategy (GA) for optimization of a novel dual- stage slurry bubble column membrane configuration for FischereTropsch synthesis in gas to liquid (GTL) technology,” Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, pp. 555- 570, 2011.##
[7]. Bandyopadhyay S., “A simulated annealing-based multiobjective optimization algorithm: AMOSA,” IEEE       Transactions on evolutionary computational, 2008.##
[8]. Nocedal J. and Wright S. J. “Numerical optimization,” Second ed. Springer Series in Operations Research,    Springer Verlag, 2006.##
[9]. Gamba S., Pellegrini L. A., Calemma V. and Gambaro C., “Liquid fuels from fischer–tropsch wax hydrocracking: Isomer distribution,” Catalysis Today, Vol. 156 , PP-58–64(2010).##
[10]. Calemma V., Gambaro C., Parker Jr W. O., Carbone R., Giardino R., and Scorletti P., “Middle distillates from hydrocracking of FT waxes: Composition,characteristics and emission properties,” Catalysis Today, Vol. 149, pp. 40–46, 2010.##
 
Journal of Petroleum Research
Volume 25, 85-1 - Serial Number 85
January and February 2015
Pages 4-15

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics