Thermal Assessment of a Micro Fibrous Fischer Tropsch Fixed Bed Reactor Using Computational Fluid Dynamics Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • A two-dimensional (2D) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) scale-up model of the Fischer Tropsch reactor was developed to thermally compare the Microfibrous-Entrapped-Cobalt-Catalyst (MFECC) and the conventional Packed Bed Reactor (PBR). The model implements an advanced predictive detailed kinetic model to study the effect of a thermal runaway on C5+ hydrocarbon product selectivity. Results demonstrate the superior capability of the MFECC bed in mitigating hotspot formation due to its ultra-high thermal conductivity. Furthermore, a process intensification study for radial scale-up of the reactor bed from 15 mm internal diameter (ID) to 102 mm ID demonstrated that large tube diameters in PBR lead to temperature runaway >200 K corresponding to >90% CO conversion at 100% methane selectivity, which is highly undesirable. While the MFECC bed hotspot temperature corresponded to <10 K at >30% CO conversion, attributing to significantly high thermal conductivity of the MFECC bed. Moreover, a noticeable improvement in C5+ hydrocarbon selectivity >70% was observed in the MFECC bed in contrast to a significantly low number for the PBR (<5%).

published proceedings

  • PROCESSES

author list (cited authors)

  • Abusrafa, A. E., Challiwala, M. S., Wilhite, B. A., & Elbashir, N. O.

citation count

  • 2

complete list of authors

  • Abusrafa, Aya E||Challiwala, Mohamed S||Wilhite, Benjamin A||Elbashir, Nimir O

publication date

  • January 2020

publisher