TITLE: Development of a Demonstration Reactor Using Thoria as a Fischer-Tropsch Catalyst.

AUTHOR: C. A. Colmenares;   W. McLean.

INST.  AUTHOR: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA.

SPONSOR: Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

LANGUAGE: English

PUB.  TYPE: Technical Report

PUB.  COUNTRY: United States

SOURCE: Department of Energy [DE],  Dec 81,  19p.

ABSTRACT:

We have demonstrated experimentally that thorium oxide may be used as a catalyst with CO + H sub 2 mixtures to produce either methanol or a mixture of hydrocarbons from C sub 1 to C sub 5 (saturated and unsaturated). The immunity of ThO sub 2 to poisoning by sulfur compounds makes its use very attractive for industrial applications. We are proposing to optimize the experimental conditions of the catalytic process using a one-inch reactor and to scope and define the experimental conditions for a pilot plant demonstration.

REPORT  NUMBER: UCID-19286

CONTRACT  NUMBER: W-7405-ENG-48