Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) reaction is a method for production of hydrocarbons from synthesis gas. The synthetic fuels produced via FTS have high centane numbers, low contents of sulfur and aromatics. This makes them suitable for diesel engines and friendly for environment. However, conventional FTS suffers from temperature control problems when heat removal capacity is insufficient for highly exothermic synthesis reaction (ΔHR = 165 kJ/mol), and uncontrollably high temperature can lead to the deactivation of catalysts and increase of methane selectivity by the formation of a hot-spot. Microreaction technology can help solve this limitation, since it can easily control temperature due to the extensive heat exchange surface area by high surface-to-volume ratio. Simulations can provide detailed direct information of the thermal behavior of a FTS reactor with operating conditions, while it is difficult to obtain by the experiment results in the mircoreactor of complicated structure.
In the present work, a a modular multichannel reactor for FTS with Co-based catalysts was studied by three dimensional simulations. A channel type reactor with plate heat exchanger composed of several microchannels is considered and detailed modeling is conducted by COMSOL Multiphysics 4.2a (COMSOL, Inc.) with lumped kinetic models. a modular multichannel reactor is composed of three reactant flow channels located between and at both sides of reactant flow channels. Simulation result will be compared with experimental data on the reactant conversion and reactor temperature, and various operation conditions such as feed temperature, SV and reactor designs are tested. In conclusion, the developed model can allow us to gain a maximal productivity and safe operation insight into the complicated a modular multichannel reactor FTS system.
