(399f) Effect of Sulfur Poisoning On A Cobalt-Based Fischer-Tropsche Catalyst in A Fixed BED Compact HEAT Exchange Reactor

Fischer-Tropsch (FT) is a highly exothermic reaction that is very important in most XTL technologies.  Integrating compact heat exchange technology with chemical reactors, Chart’s Compact Heat Exchange Reactor (CHER) design has been successfully demonstrated to remove the high heat of reaction generated by a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst.  The integrated heat exchange of CHER provides process intensification to the FT process.

In this study, the performance of a commercial Fischer-Tropsch cobalt catalyst in a Compact Heat Exchange Reactor is tested.  Hydrogen sulfide is injected with the syngas in concentrations in the order of 100ppm by volume.  The deactivation of the catalyst as well as the change in methane selectivity is calculated and compared to the baseline operating conditions.  The flow rate of the syngas is varied to alter the residence time.  The rate of deactivation is calculated at the different flow rates.  We attempt to measure the amount of sulfur on the catalyst along the axial direction of the CHER, to understand the magnitude at which sulfur is absorbed onto the catalyst.  Also, the rate of deactivation is compared to that of a CSTR using the same commercial FT catalyst.  CHER has shown a higher tolerance to sulfur poisoning over the CSTR, further increasing the viability of process intensification in an FT process.