Application of Microfiber Entrapped Catalyst in Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

The exothermic property of Fischer-Tropsch reaction is well known for the Lab study or industrial application. It limits the fix bed reactor to scale up because of the heat transport problem inside the catalyst bed, especially where high activity takes place. This project proposed to utilize metal microfiber entrapped catalyst(MEC), which will increase the thermal conductivity of the catalyst, improving the heat transport inside the fixed bed, minimizing the hot spot inside the reactor. Furthermore the uniform temperature distribution also makes it easy to control the reactor temperature, and then obtain better product selectivity.

Alumina supported cobalt catalyst were entrapped by stainless steel, nickel and copper microfibers, and studied in a tubular reactor under 190~220°C and 20bar. The product was fitted into ASF distribution and the selectivity of MECs was compared with the packed bed catalyst of powder only. Also the effect of the high temperature of the sintering process on phase and surface area of the alumina support was investigated by XRD and BET.