A strategy for scaling up the Fischer-Tropsch bubble column slurry reactor

Abstract

For successful scale-up of the bubble column slurry reactor for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, we need to have proper description of hydrodynamics and transport phenomena (gas and liquid holdups, liquid-phase residence time distribution, gas-liquid mass transfer, heat transfer to cooling tubes) as a function of reactor scale (column diameter and height) and operating conditions (superficial gas velocity, system pressure, slurry concentration, . . .). We discuss and develop a scale-up strategy using computational fluid dynamics, with a minimum amount of experimental input from hydrodynamic studies carried out on a relatively small scale.