Experimental verification of 2-dimensional computational fluid dynamics modeling of supercritical fluids Fischer Tropsch reactor bed
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abstract
2019 Elsevier B.V. A 2-D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model of a Packed Bed (PB) Fischer Tropsch (FT) reactor was developed using a non-conventional Supercritical Fluid (SCF) as reaction media. The model was used to study the effect of using SCF-FT reactor bed in alleviating hot spot formation, typically occurring in conventional Gas Phase FT reactors (GP-FT). The potential of scaling-up a typical industrial 1.5-inch diameter reactor bed to a larger tube diameter (up to 4 ID) was studied as a first step towards process intensification of the FT technology. The high fidelity 2-D model developed in this work was built on experimental data generated at a variety of FT operating conditions both in conventional GP-FT and in SCF-FT reactor bed. Results showed that the maximum temperature rise in SCF-FT for a 4 ID bed was just 15 K compared to 800 K in GP-FT bed for 15% Co/-Al2O3 based catalyst at 500 GHSV and 518.15 K. The enhancement in thermal performance in SCF-FT reactor bed is attributed to the high thermal capacity of SCF media (2500 J/kg/K) compared to GP (1300 J/kg/K), which resulted in the elimination of hotspot formation. These results provide the first evidence for the application of SCF-FT in larger tube reactor beds while overcoming issues resulting from hotspot formation.
