CFD analysis of hot spot formation through a fixed bed reactor of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

Abstract

One of the interesting methods for conversion of synthesis gas to heavy hydrocarbons is Fischer–Tropsch process. The process has some bottlenecks, such as hot spot formation and low degree of conversion. In this work, computational fluid dynamics technique was used to simulate conversion of synthetic gas and product distribution. Also, hot spot formation in the catalytic fixed-bed reactor was investigated in several runs. Simulation results indicated that hot spot formation occurred more likely in the early and middle part of reactor due to high reaction rates. Based on the simulation results, the temperature of hot spots increased with increase in the inlet temperature as well as pressure. Among the many CFD runs conducted, it is found that the optimal temperature and pressure for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis are 565 K and 20 bar, respectively. As it seems that the reactor shall work very well under optimal conditions, the reaction rates and catalyst duration would simultaneously be maximum.