Department of Chemical Engineering

FISCHER TROPSCH SYNTHESIS POWERED BY SOECS

BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION PROPOSED MECHANISM

insufficient to meet the demands of the modern world, which is why there is an urgent need catalyst surface, dissociated into C and O, and then hydrogenated to develop long

to produce synthetic fuels. Fischer Tropsch synthesis is a sophisticated mechanism for chain hydrocarbons. It may be noteworthy that C and O, which remain adsorbed to the

producing long-chain hydrocarbon fuels, using only hydrogen and carbon monoxide mixture catalyst surface, are reaction intermediates. Thus, for calculation purposes, their

(syngas) as the feed. These long-chain hydrocarbons can be used to operate cars and jets existence is neglected (steady state approximation – allows us to equate net rates of

alike, by modifying the hydrocarbon chain length. formations of intermediates to zero and obtain reaction rates). Similarly, direct CO
hydrogen has been proposed, whereby chemisorbed CO is first hydrogenated and
then condensed to remove oxygen from the molecule. Between these two
mechanisms, there is an energy tradeoff associated with first dissociating CO versus
removing H2O from the final product.
Another, more sophisticated reaction mechanism is suggested by Fischer and
Tropsch[1] whereby the role of H-assisted pathways in kinetically-relevant CO
dissociation steps is significant. The unassisted CO activation process is not
competitive with the H-assisted pathway, which forms H2O exclusively. Oxygen
removal selectivities indicate that H-assistance prevails and is the appropriate choice

Conventionally, natural gas and biomass were used to produce syngas, and these are for slurry bubble column reactor using cobalt as the catalyst.

depleting resources. For this reason, there is a need for new, efficient means of producing
syngas, such as artificial photosynthesis. Amongst these methods, solid oxide electrolysis
cells (SOECs) seem to be the more promising alternative for syngas production.
Fischer Tropsch synthesis can be done using a variety of reactors, depending on operating
temperatures.
This research will include the use of SOECs to produce syngas, proposed FTS reaction
mechanism, and energy considerations.

SOLID OXIDE ELECTROLYSIS CELLS (SOECS) ENERGY CONSIDERATIONS

from readily available resources such as CO2 and water. Currently, SOECs have not been velocity, particle size, liquid properties, operating pressure, and column diameter [4].

developed commercially due to stability problems but their outcome is promising once the The heat transfer coefficient increases with superficial gas velocity, irrespective of

related problems are dealt with. The schematic is as follows: gas properties. This can be attributed to the turbulence generated in the column due
to presence of bubbles. Thus, a higher superficial gas velocity would mean more
energy is transferred throughout the column, and heat released from the column
would be greater.
The heat transfer is a strong function of the catalyst particles (slurry) that are
introduced to the column. The effect of slurry on the thermophysical properties of the
liquid phase is shown below. Some studies suggest that heat transfer coefficient
increases with finer particles, but others suggest that it decreases with finer bubbles.
Figure 4
The addition of solid particles into the liquid phase increase the liquid’s apparent
viscosity.
Currently, nickel based cathode is being used whereas the anode is ferrite based perovskite [2].
The reactions in each compartment are as follow:
Amongst liquid properties, the thermal
conductivity and heat capacity of the
liquid are found to positively affect the
heat transfer coefficient. An increase in

Where hot steam is introduced to the system with carbon dioxide in the cathode region which the liquid temperature is also found to

produces CO and H2 mixture. Similarly, oxygen is oxidized in the anode region where the increase heat transfer coefficient.

semipermeable membrane allows the transfer of O2- ions between the two compartments.
SOECs have additional advantages in addition to the use of renewable resources only: Very An increase in the operating pressure of the column is found to decrease the heat
high conversions of CO2. transfer coefficient and thus decrease the amount of energy released.
The method serves as a dual purpose such as removing excess CO2 from the environment It has been found that above a column diameter of 0.3m, the effect of diameter on
which is a greenhouse gas as well as the production of Syngas. heat transfer coefficient diminishes. Below this value, heat transfer coefficient is
Literature data [3] suggests that optimum temperature for SOECs is 700℃ while ideal feed is found to decrease with decreasing diameter.
devoid of water and high in H2 content. Conversion of CO2 to CO is maximum under these
conditions.

CONCLUSION REFRENCES
This research is done based on the Fischer Tropsch synthesis for producing long-chain [1] [Link]
hydrocarbons as alternatives for depleting fuels. Feed for this reaction is syngas, which is [Link]?_tid=e341cc8e-3872-438b-808e-
produced renewably through solid oxide catalyst cells in place of conventional fuels such as bff944d2c7f4&acdnat=1526238339_6dc208526919087242bcb6a6afeb86ec
biomass and natural gas. The ideal reactor to be used for this synthesis is found to be the [2] [Link]
slurry bubble column reactor, and its energy considerations are discussed. The type of slurry [3][Link]
used is found to be greatly impacting the energy released from the system. The products of ACC614CE27E55E48C055DE868F9330BA2820633B1D5D6C32EADA449D84F
reactions occurring in SOECs and the products of FTS reaction are found to be environment [4] [Link]
friendly, making the entire process independent of fossil fuels.