ExStol: Exelus synthesis gas-to-liquids technology

The development of a break-through Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology that has the ability to significantly improve the economics of the process using a multi-functional catalytic system was presented. The cost reduction potential using this next-generation FT technology provides a very strong springboard for overall gas-to-liquids process viability. A first-of-a-kind catalytic system for multi-phase reactions was developed at Exelus. The new catalyst system called the HyperCat combines all the benefits of slurry operation (low pore-diffusion barriers, high heat and mass-transfer rates, low pressure drop) with the benefits of fixed-bed operation (no filtration issues, plug-flow behavior, and easy scale-up) in one system. The high level of control allowed ideal reaction conditions to prevail at the active sites, enhancing the catalyst performance leading to significantly higher activity. The effect of liquid dispersion on catalyst performance was studied by comparing the performance of the powder catalyst in a bubble column reactor with the HyperCat-FT system. The CO conversion was much lower for a low Peclet number (bubble column reactor with a back-mixed liquid phase) as opposed to higher Peclet number for the HyperCat system. The HyperCat had similar gas-hold up as a slurry bubble column reactor but with a much lower liquid axial-dispersion coefficient. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the ACS Fuel Chemistry Meeting (Washington, DC Fall 2005).