Fischer-Tropsch Conversion / Kinetics

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the challenges faced in modeling a small-scale Fischer-Tropsch process using HYSYS (Aspen) software. The team aims to produce a specific volume of oil per day from syngas with a H2:CO ratio of 2:1, utilizing cobalt catalysts. A significant hurdle is the lack of kinetics and conversion data for all reactions in the reactor, which hampers accurate simulation. The team has successfully modeled products distribution using the Anderson-Schulz-Flory equation but requires further assistance to size their fluidized-bed reactor based on the gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) derived from recent experiments.

PREREQUISITES
  • Fischer-Tropsch synthesis principles
  • HYSYS (Aspen) software proficiency
  • Understanding of kinetics in chemical reactions
  • Fluidized-bed reactor design concepts
NEXT STEPS
  • Research Fischer-Tropsch kinetics for cobalt catalysts
  • Explore resources on reactor sizing techniques for fluidized-bed systems
  • Study the Anderson-Schulz-Flory equation in detail
  • Investigate alternative modeling approaches for syngas conversion
USEFUL FOR

Chemical engineers, process engineers, and researchers involved in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and reactor design will benefit from this discussion.

Cyril St-Amand
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Hi,

We are currently working on a small-scale Fischer-Tropsch process.
The modeling software we are using is HYSYS (Aspen).

We want to produce X barils of oil / day using syngas (H2:CO ratio 2:1) using cobalt catalysts.
The problem we are currently facing is that we do not have the kinetics or conversion for every single reaction in the reactor to simulate the process.

We are modeling C1 to C30 only and we have entered all the reactions in the software.
We have the products distribution (by using the Anderson-Schulz-Flory equation and alpha, the chain growth coefficient).

We did a lot of online/library research, but couldn't come up with the kinetics/conversion data required for HYSYS. We'd also like to be able to size the reactor (fluidized-bed) preliminary. We know the GHSV related to the catalyst used thanks to a recent experiment, but we are still unable to size the reactor.

Any help / link / documents / different approach would greatly be appreciated by my team & I.
 
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Cyril St-Amand said:
for every single reaction in the reactor to simulate the process.
There's only so far you can go with "theory/modeling" on something like this; and with just mole fraction of feed for a constraint ... ?
 

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