Novel Syngas Production Techniques for GTL-FT Synthesis of Gasoline:
Special Symposium - EPIC-1: European Process Intensification Conference - 1
EPIC-1: Poster Session (EPIC - Poster) - P1
Keywords: syngas production, gas to liquid, reverse flow catalytic membrane reactor, Partial Oxidation of Methane, Technical & Economic Feasibility Study
Gas To Liquids (GTL) technology is becoming an increasingly lucrative opportunity to exploit stranded and/or abundant natural gas resources for conversion to liquid fuels. A GTL plant consists of syngas production and Fischer-Tropsch (FT) units. A feasibility study has been performed on the syngas production techniques available, both conventional as well as in development stage.
The design process is conducted in a systematic way from black box to conceptual design to index flowsheet and finally the PFD level. It included all tools such as working diagrams, alternatives and choices diagram, decision trees, and appeared to be robust and flexible at the same time.
After a literature survey, following techniques were assessed both technically and economically:
- Auto Thermal Reforming (ATR),
- Reverse Flow Catalytic Membrane Reactor (RFCMR) with porous membranes,
- Catalytic Membrane Reactor (CMR) with O2 selective membranes,
- Reverse Flow Catalytic Membrane Reactor (RFCMR) with O2 selective membranes.
ATR is considered to be the more conventional technique. The reverse flow reactors consist of an integrated recuperative heat exchange design and, therefore, have a lower required O2/CH4 ratio in the feed. In case of the membrane reactors with O2 selective membranes, the air separation is integrated within the reactor design and an air separation unit (ASU) is not required. For more information on the RFCMR reactors it is referred to the work of J. Smit et al.
Based on certain boundary conditions the economic feasibility was evaluated with OPEX and CAPEX calculations. The RFCMR with O2 selective membranes was found to be most economically feasible due to the lower O2 feed costs and higher efficiency resulting in a 15% improvement in economic potential in comparison to the ATR process.
However, as the reactors with O2 selective membranes are still in development stage, it was decided to do an extended conceptual design of the ATR and RFCMR with porous membranes. Finally it was concluded that the process parameters for the RFCMR with porous membranes provided a higher potential than the ATR for an optimum syngas production process. For example, the carbon efficiency improved from 77 to 85%.
Nonetheless, RFCMR with porous membranes will still need to be proven on industrial scale. This is also the case for the other new concepts. More testing at pilot/industrial scale will be required on certain process related issues such as cycle time.
Reference:
Smit J., Van Sint Annaland M., Kuipers J.A.M.; ‘Modelling of a Reverse Flow Catalytic Membrane Reactor for the Partial Oxidation of Methane’; International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering, Vol. 1, 2003, Article A54.
Presented Wednesday 19, 13:30 to 14:40, in session EPIC-1 Poster Session (EPIC - Poster) - P1.
