Studies on the iron-catalyzed Fischer-tropsch process in a laminar flow slurry column reactor

The Fischer-Tropsch process was studied in a laminar flow slurry bubble column reactor. Prior to the experiments, hydrodynamic studies were done in a cold-flow model of the reactor. A mathematical model was also developed for the reactor, based on the kinetic data of an iron-based catalyst. The present modeling approach employed enabled the computation of the extent of gas contraction due to reaction. Six sets of experimental runs were carried out to validate the model, the last utilizing biosyngas, produced by the gasification of willow. The model developed was suitable to predict the performance of the reactor, with the rate parameters adjusted, necessitated by the fact that the catalyst activity changes with time-on-stream. The effect of a number of selected parameters on the Fischer-Tropsch process was also investigated