A Practical Distributed Kinetic Model for Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis Scale-Up: From Bench-Scale Data to Pilot Plant Simulation

Abstract

Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) is a complex polymerization involving dozens of reactions. To aid its scale-up, a detailed kinetic model, including terms for each individual product, is a valuable tool for a chemical reactor engineer. Most models currently available in the literature are either lumped models incapable of predicting hydrocarbon distribution within a process simulation environment or require special expressions, such as concentrations of adsorbed species, common in microkinetic models. To cover this gap, we developed a distributed kinetic model for an 8% Co/Al2O3 catalyst and demonstrated its implementation in an open source process simulator (DWSIM). The parameters were measured from bench-scale experiments in a packed bed reactor and were used to plan the process scale-up for an FTS reactor to be implemented in a Sustainable Aviation Fuel pilot plant.