FISCHER-TROPSCH

PROCESS
By: Pranav Aggarwal
IC23BTECH11015
HISTORY
• Liquid transportation hydrocarbon fuels and various other chemical products can be
produced from syngas via the well-known and established catalytic chemical process
called Fischer - Tropsch (FT) synthesis, named after the original German inventors, Franz
Fischer and Hans Tropsch in the 1920s. During World War II, FT synthesis provided
liquid hydrocarbon fuels for the German war effort. Later, facing isolation during the
apartheid era, South Africa turned to FT synthesis from coal gasification to supply
significant quantities of its hydrocarbon fuel and chemicals needs.
DETAILS OF THE PROCESS
• The gasification island consists of all the supporting process technologies of coal handling and feed
preparation, heat recovery, syngas cleanup and conditioning, water-gas-shift, sulfur recovery, etc. The
clean syngas leaving the gasification island is sent onto the FT synthesis island, where the clean
shifted syngas is converted into primary products of wax, hydrocarbon condensate, tail gas, and
reaction water. The wax is sent on to an upgrading unit for hydrocracking in the presence of hydrogen,
where it is chemically split into smaller molecular weight hydrocarbon liquids. A hydrogen recovery
unit is used to extract the required quantity of hydrogen from the tail gas as shown, or alternatively
from the feed syngas stream. The reaction products, along with that from the upgrading section, are
fractionated into the final products of diesel, naphtha, and other light ends, depending on the desired
product mix. The production facility is supported by several utility plants, including the power train.
THE FISCHER-TROPSCH PROCESS IS A CATALYTIC CHEMICAL REACTION IN WHICH CARBON MONOXIDE (CO)
AND HYDROGEN (H2) IN THE SYNGAS ARE CONVERTED INTO HYDROCARBONS OF VARIOUS MOLECULAR
WEIGHTS ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING EQUATION:

(2N+1) H 2 + N CO → CN H(2N+2) + N H2O

WHERE N IS AN INTEGER. THUS, FOR N=1, THE REACTION REPRESENTS THE FORMATION OF METHANE,
WHICH IN MOST CTL OR GTL APPLICATIONS IS CONSIDERED AN UNDESIRABLE BYPRODUCT. THE FISCHER-
TROPSCH PROCESS CONDITIONS ARE USUALLY CHOSEN TO MAXIMIZE THE FORMATION OF HIGHER
MOLECULAR WEIGHT HYDROCARBON LIQUID FUELS WHICH ARE HIGHER VALUE PRODUCTS. THERE ARE
OTHER SIDE REACTIONS TAKING PLACE IN THE PROCESS, AMONG WHICH THE WATER-GAS-SHIFT REACTION

CO + H 2O → H2 + CO2

IS PREDOMINANT. DEPENDING ON THE CATALYST, TEMPERATURE, AND TYPE OF PROCESS EMPLOYED,

HYDROCARBONS RANGING FROM METHANE TO HIGHER MOLECULAR PARAFFINS AND OLEFINS CAN BE
OBTAINED. SMALL AMOUNTS OF LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT OXYGENATES (E.G., ALCOHOL AND ORGANIC
ACIDS) ARE ALSO FORMED. THE FISCHER-TROPSCH SYNTHESIS REACTION, IN THEORY, IS A CONDENSATION
POLYMERIZATION REACTION OF CO. ITS PRODUCTS OBEY A WELL-DEFINED MOLECULAR WEIGHT
DISTRIBUTION ACCORDING TO A RELATIONSHIP KNOWN AS SHULTZ-FLORY DISTRIBUTION.
CATALYSTS
• Catalysts considered for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis are based on transition metals of iron, cobalt, nickel and
ruthenium. FT catalyst development has largely been focused on the preference for high molecular weight
linear alkanes and diesel fuels production. Among these catalysts, it is generally known that:
• Nickel (Ni) tends to promote methane formation, as in a methanation process; thus generally it is not desirable
• Iron (Fe) is relatively low cost and has a higher water-gas-shift activity, and is therefore more suitable for a
lower hydrogen/carbon monoxide ratio (H2/CO) syngas such as those derived from coal gasification
• Cobalt (Co) is more active, and generally preferred over ruthenium (Ru) because of the prohibitively high cost
of Ru
• In comparison to iron, Co has much less water-gas-shift activity, and is much more costly.
• Given these constraints, commercially available FT catalysts are either cobalt or iron based
FT REACTORS
• The Fischer-Tropsch reaction is highly exothermic; therefore heat removal is an important factor in the design of a
commercial reactor. In general, three different types of reactor design might be used for FT synthesis:
• Fixed bed reactor
• Fluidized bed reactor
• Slurry bed reactor.
• All three types of reactors have been used commercially. The multitubular fixed-bed reactors, known as Arge reactors,
were developed jointly by Lurgi and Ruhrchemie and commissioned in the 1955. They were used by Sasol to produce
heavy FT liquid hydrocarbons and waxes in Sasolburg, in what Sasol termed their Low-Temperature FT Synthesis
Process, aiming for liquid fuels production. Most, if not all, of these types of Arge reactors are now be replaced by
slurry-bed reactors, which is considered the state-of-the-art technology for low temperature FT synthesis. Slurry-bed
FT reactors offer better temperature control and higher conversion. Slurry-bed FT reactors are also being developed by
other Fischer-Tropsch technology vendors, namely Exxon and Shell.
SOURCE
• https://www.netl.doe.gov/research/carbon-management/energy-
systems/gasification/gasifipedia/ftsynthesis
THANK YOU