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Comparative Study of the Performance of Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis in Conventional Packed Bed and in Membrane Reactor Over Iron- and Cobalt-Based Catalysts

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Abstract

A comparative study of Fischer–Tropsch synthesis for synthesizing liquid hydrocarbons from syngas was carried out in a conventional packed bed reactor and in a water perm-selective membrane reactor over iron and cobalt catalysts. The process was performed under different operating conditions, such as inlet syngas feed molar ratio, total pressure, gas velocity, temperature, reactor dimensions and sweep fluid ratio. The main simulation results show that the use of the concept of membrane reactor can improve the process performance compared to that obtained in the case of the conventional packed bed reactor. Furthermore, under certain operating conditions, the process could be intensified by a reduction of carbon monoxide conversion magnitude via the water–gas shift reaction. This is possible by using a hydrophilic membrane. Our findings indicate that the membrane reactor provides a quasi-complete conversion of carbon monoxide over iron- or cobalt-based catalysts.

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Abbreviations

A :

Cross section (\({\rm m}^{2}\))

a :

Kinetic constant of Fischer–Tropsch reaction over cobalt catalyst \({({\rm mol}\,{\rm s}^{-1}\,{\rm kg}_{\rm cat}^{-1}\,{\rm Pa}^{-2})}\)

\({A_{\rm m}}\) :

Membrane section \({({{\rm m}^{2}})}\)

b :

Adsorption coefficient of carbon monoxide \({\left({{\rm Pa}^{-1}}\right)}\)

\({C_{\rm pg}}\) :

Specific heat of the gas at constant pressure \({\left({{\rm J}\,\rm mol}^{-1}\,{\rm K}^{-1}\right)}\)

D :

Reactor diameter \({(\rm m)}\)

\({d_{\rm p}}\) :

Particle diameter (m)

\({F_i}\) :

Molar flow rate of component \({i\,\left({{\rm mol}\,{\rm s}^{-1}}\right)}\)

\({F_{\rm T}^0}\) :

Initial total molar flow rate \({\left({{\rm mol}\,{\rm s}^{-1}}\right)}\)

I :

The sweeping fluid ratio

\({J_{{\rm H}_2{\rm O}}}\) :

Permeation rate of water \({\left({{\rm mol}\,{\rm m}^{3}\,{\rm s}^{-1}}\right)}\)

K FTS :

Kinetic rate constant of the FT reaction \({\left({{\rm mol}\,{\rm kg}^{-1}\,{\rm s}^{-1}\,{\rm MPa}^{-1}}\right)}\)

\({K_{\rm WGS}}\) :

Kinetic rate constant of the WGS reaction \({\left({{\rm mol}\,{\rm kg}^{-1}\,{\rm s}}^{-1}\right)}\)

L :

Reactor length \({(\rm m)}\)

\({l}\) :

Dimensionless reactor length \({(\rm m)}\)

M :

Inlet molar flow ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide

\({P_{\rm T}}\) :

Total pressure (Pa)

P i :

Partial pressure of component i \({(\rm Pa)}\)

\({P_{{\rm H}_2{\rm O}} ^r}\) :

Water pressure in reaction side (Pa)

\({P_{{\rm H}_2{\rm O}} ^p}\) :

Water pressure in permeation side (Pa)

\({Q}\) :

Volumetric flow rate \({\left({{\rm m}^{3}\,{\rm s}^{-1}}\right)}\)

R i :

Reaction rate of component \({i \, \left({{\rm mol}\,{\rm kg}^{-1}\,{\rm s}^{-1}}\right)}\)

\({R_{\rm FTS}}\) :

Overall Fischer–Tropsch reaction rate \({\left({{\rm mol}\,{\rm kg}^{-1}\,{\rm s}^{-1}}\right)}\)

\({R_{\rm WGS}}\) :

Water–gas shift reaction rate \({\left({{\rm mol}\,{\rm kg}^{-1}\,{\rm s}^{-1}}\right)}\)

T :

Temperature (K)

\({T_{\rm sh}}\) :

Shell temperature (K)

\({U_{\rm sh}}\) :

Overall heat transfer coefficient shell fluid \({\left({\rm W}/{\rm m}^{2}\,{\rm K}\right)}\)

v :

Gas velocity \({\left({\rm ms}^{-1}\right)}\)

\({X_{\rm FTS}}\) :

Carbon monoxide conversion in FT reaction

X G :

Overall carbon monoxide conversion

\({X_{\rm WGS}}\) :

Carbon monoxide conversion in WGS reaction

\(Y_{{\rm H}_2{\rm O}}\) :

Removal water

z :

Axial reactor coordinate

\({\alpha}\) :

Adsorption parameter

\({\beta}\) :

Membrane permeability \({\left({{\rm mol}\,{\rm s}^{-1}\,{\rm m}^{-2}\,{\rm Pa}^{-1}}\right)}\)

\({\Delta H_i}\) :

Enthalpy of formation of component \({i \left({{\rm J}\,{\rm mol}^{-1}}\right)}\)

\({\varepsilon}\) :

Bed porosity

\({\mu}\) :

Gas viscosity \({\left({{\rm kg}\,{\rm m}^{-1}\,{\rm s}^{-1}}\right)}\)

\({\rho}\) :

Catalyst density \({\left({{\rm kg}\,{\rm m}^{-3}}\right)}\)

\({\rho _g}\) :

Gas density \({\left({{\rm kg}\,{\rm m}^{-3}}\right)}\)

\({\upsilon_{ij}}\) :

Stoichiometric coefficient of species i in reaction j

g :

Gas phase

n :

Number of hydrogen atom in average hydrocarbon

m :

Number of carbon atom in average hydrocarbon

sh:

Shell side

0:

Inlet conditions

i :

Chemical species

FTS:

Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis

HC:

Hydrocarbon

WGS:

Water–Gas Shift reaction

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  1. Laboratoire de Génie des Procédés Chimiques, Département de Génie des Procédés, Faculté de Technologie, Université Ferhat Abbas Sétif 1, UN1901, Sétif, Algeria

    Dounia Alihellal & Lemnouer Chibane

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Alihellal, D., Chibane, L. Comparative Study of the Performance of Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis in Conventional Packed Bed and in Membrane Reactor Over Iron- and Cobalt-Based Catalysts. Arab J Sci Eng 41, 357–369 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-015-1836-1

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