Mathematical Modeling of Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis in an Industrial Slurry Bubble Column

Abstract

The increase in society's need for fuels and decrease in crude oil resources are important reasons to make more interest for both academic and industry in converting gas to liquids. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is one of the most attractive methods of Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) processes and the reactor in which, this reaction occurs, is the heart of this process. This work deals with modeling of a commercial size slurry bubble column reactor by two different models, i.e. single bubble class model (SBCM) and double bubble class model (DBCM). The reactor is assumed to work in a churn-turbulent flow regime and the reaction kinetic is a Langmuir-Hinshelwood type. Cobalt-based catalyst is used for this study as it plays an important role in preparing heavy cuts and the higher yield of the liquid products. Parameter sensitivity analysis was carried out for different conditions such as catalyst concentration, superficial gas velocity, H2 over CO ratio, and column diameter. The results of the SBCM and DBCM revealed that there is no significant difference between single and double bubble class models in terms of temperature, concentration and conversion profiles in the reactor, so the simpler SBCM with less number of model parameters can be a good and reliable model of choice for analyzing the slurry bubble column reactors.