TITLE: Catalyst and Reactor Development for a Liquid-Phase Fischer-Tropsch Process. Quarterly Technical Progress Report, 1 April 1982-30 June 1982.

AUTHOR: P. N. Dyer;   R. Pierantozzi;   B. W. Brian;   J. V. Bauer.

INST.  AUTHOR: Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown, PA.

SPONSOR: Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

LANGUAGE: English

PUB.  TYPE: Technical Report

PUB.  COUNTRY: United States

SOURCE: Department of Energy [DE],  Aug 82,  156p.

NTIS REPORT NO: DE83001279INW

ABSTRACT:

Two major current tasks are: Slurry Catalyst Development, and Slurry Reactor Design Studies. Seven supported conventional catalysts, prepared with different metal precursors, concentrations, calcination procedures and supports, were tested in the gas phase to determine the effect of these parameters on activity and selectivity. A second slurry test of the baseline catalyst, sintered Fe sub 2 O sub 3 , utilized CO rich syngas to determine reactor mass transfer limitations. The product from 1.4:1 CO/H sub 2 approximated a straight line Schulz-Flory distribution, but higher CO/H sub 2 ratios gave increased high molecular weight material. Methane yields were low and high water gas shift activity gave a close match between syngas feed and usage ratios. At T > 250 exp 0 C some mass transfer effects were observed, and are being incorporated into a reactor model. Six additional slurry tests used supported molecular cluster catalysts. Initially in this series, slurry phase activities were low. A slurry test of one supported cluster showed marked deviations from the standard Schulz-Flory distribution in the C sub 10 -C sub 29 region, but at very low conversion. Subsequent supported cluster catalyst tests led to a method of obtaining high slurry phase activities equal to the gas phase.  A slurry test of another cluster catalyst utilizing this method gave high activity, but did not reproduce the product selectivity for C sub 10 -C sub 18 observed in its previous gas phase test. At higher pressure, 750 psig, and 280 exp 0 C, however, methane yields decreased, becoming independent of the CO/H sub 2 ratio, and the Schulz-Flory product distribution became nonlinear with a definite cutoff at approx. C sub 28 .  Two supported cluster catalysts were prepared and seven were screened in the gas phase. (ERA citation 08:001855)

REPORT  NUMBER: DOE/PC/30021-T10

CONTRACT  NUMBER: AC22-80PC30021