CARBON COATED (CARBONOUS) CATALYST IN EBULLATED BED REACTOR FOR PRODUCTION OF OXYGENATED CHEMICALS FROM SYNGAS/CO2

Abstract

There are a number of exothermic chemical reactions which might benefit from the temperature control and freedom from catalyst fouling provided by the ebullated bed reactor technology. A particularly promising area is production of oxygenated chemicals, such as alcohols and ethers, from synthesis gas, which can be economically produced from coal or biomass. The ebullated bed operation requires that the small-diameter ({approx}1/32 inch) catalyst particles have enough mechanical strength to avoid loss by attrition. However, all of the State Of The Art (SOTA) catalysts and advanced catalysts for the purpose are low in mechanical strength. The patented carbon-coated catalyst technology developed in our laboratory converts catalyst particles with low mechanical strength to strong catalysts suitable for ebullated bed application. This R&D program is concerned with the modification on the mechanical strength of the SOTA and advanced catalysts so that the ebullated bed technology can be utilized to produce valuable oxygenated chemicals from syngas/CO{sub 2} efficiently and economically. The objective of this R&D program is to study the technical and economic feasibility of selective production of high-value oxygenated chemicals from synthesis gas and CO{sub 2} mixed feed in an ebullated bed reactor using carbon-coated catalyst particles.