Synthesis of octane enhancers during slurry-phase Fischer-Tropsch. Final technical progress report including the 10th quarterly technical report, September 26, 1990--May 25, 1993.

TITLE: Synthesis of octane enhancers during slurry-phase Fischer-Tropsch. Final technical progress report including the 10th quarterly technical report, September 26, 1990--May 25, 1993.

AUTHOR: G. Marcelin; A. M. Kazi; A. Nikolopoulos.

INST. AUTHOR: Altamira Instruments, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA; Pittsburgh Univ., PA (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering.

LANGUAGE: English

PUB. TYPE: Technical Report

PUB. COUNTRY: United States

SOURCE: Department of Energy [DE], 10 Jun 93, 77p.

NTIS ORDER NO.: DE94002653INW

ABSTRACT:

The objectives of this work were to investigate the formation of ethers, in particular methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), during Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reaction. Three reaction schemes were investigated: (1) addition of i-butylene during the formation of methanol and/or higher alcohols directly from CO and H(sub 2); (2) addition of i-butylene to Fr liquid products including alcohols; and (3) addition of methanol to an FT synthesis making iso-olefins. These processes were to be evaluated in both gas-phase and slurry-phase. In order to accomplish the latter, a laboratory-scale slurry bubble column reactor (SBCR) was designed and built. The experimental approach involved a study of two types of catalysts: Acid catalysts capable of performing MTBE synthesis from isobutylene and methanol at elevated temperatures (ca. 200(degrees)C), and supported metal catalysts capable of performing methanol or higher alcohol synthesis at the same temperature. Zeolites and supported palladium catalysts were studied for these two purposes, respectively. Addition of isobutylene during CO hydrogenation showed that MTBE formation cannot be carried out on metal sites and likely always requires the presence of acid sites. However, MTBE was formed when acid sites, provided by a zeolite, were present in the vicinity of the methanol synthesis sites. Addition of isobutylene during CO hydrogenation over a composite catalyst consisting of Li-Pd/SiO(sub 2) and a hydrogen-zeolite resulted in the formation of measurable, but small, amounts of MTBE. The major byproducts of the reaction scheme were isobutane, the dimer of isobutylene, and other hydrocarbons. Because of the strong influence of thermodynamics, the catalytic behavior for MTBE synthesis of various acid catalysts was found to be very similar at elevated temperatures.

REPORT NUMBER: DOE/PC/90047-T9

CONTRACT NUMBER: AC22-90PC90047