EUBCE 2024 - Ljubisa GAVRILOVIC - Sorption-Enhanced Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis - Effect of Water Removal

Sorption-Enhanced Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis - Effect of Water Removal

Short Introductive summary

The Sorption-Enhanced Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (SEFTS), with water removal by means of a solid sorbent, has been demonstrated for the first time experimentally. Commercial water sorbents (Zeolites type 13X and 4A) were thoroughly characterized to determine water sorption capacity at relevant temperatures (100-250°C) as well as multicycle stability after 100 cycles at 210°C. The SEFTS experiments were performed as a cyclic operation, first FT reaction and then water sorbent regeneration, at 210 °C and 5 bar. The system with zeolites showed 10% higher CO conversion after 65 hours on stream compared to the system without any sorbents. The selectivities to C5+ was higher for the system with sorbents compared to the system without zeolites. A much steeper deactivation curve was also observed for the system without zeolites at steady state conditions. This might be due to the fact that zeolites adsorbs the water and remove it from the catalyst active centers, thus increase catalyst stability by preventing the catalyst re-oxidation. Overall, this work opens an opportunity for enhancing the catalyst activity in FTS by in situ water sorption.

L. Gavrilovic, Institute for Energy Technology, Kjeller, NORWAY
S.S. Kazi, Institute for Energy Technology, Kjeller, NORWAY
A. Oliveira, Institute for Energy Technology, Kjeller, NORWAY
O. Encinas, Norwegian University for Science and Technology, Trondheim, NORWAY
E.A Blekkan, Norwegian University for Science and Technology, Trondheim, NORWAY