Design of a Large-Scale Micro-Channel Fischer-Tropsch Reactor: Model Development for Barrels-per-Day-Scale Reactor

In this study, a large-scale micro-channel Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reactor was designed. Based on 1-barrel per day of  wax production rate, a model that solves momentum, material, and heat balance equations simultaneously was developed. Approximately 5,000 channels-1,000 for process and 4,000 for cooling channel-are decomposed into each unit cell, and every neighboring cells are then coupled together to solve the balance equations. The realistic flow distribution effect was incorporated into the model by using results obtained from computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The effect of several important variables, i.e., catalyst loading, coolant flow rate, channel layout, flow configurations, flow distribution, are clarified through the relevent case studies. The results of the model validation work, and some realistic issues that arises in the fabrication of the large scale reactor are presented as well.