Fischer Tropsch Catalysis: From Fundamentals to Engineering Practice

The Fischer-Tropsch catalysis and theoretical studies behind the recent breakthroughs in the 4000 bbl/d scale coal-to-liquids plants in China using Synfuels China’s Fischer-Trospch (F-T) synthesis technology is summarized. DFT calculations for adsorption and reaction mechanisms on different facets of iron carbide species in F-T catalysts provide guidance to the development of an industrial F-T catalyst. In addition, kinetics can be very important tool for F-T reactor and process development.  However, the F-T catalytic kinetics is very complicated and the intrinsic kinetics has not been obtained. The detailed kinetics has been the major tool to validate the slurry reactor design for productivity and for providing a controllable chemical environment for the catalyst used. The difficulties are mainly due to that no kinetics model could take the surface changing of the catalyst into account.

It is concluded that  the F-T chemistry and catalysis need to be fully understood where a combination of experimental and theoretical tools is imperative. The knowldge gained from fundamental study should be combined with engineering devleopment during FT process scaleup.