Patent ID: 6348510
Filing Date: 2002-02-19
Classification: C10G

Abstract:
A process for optimizing the production of heavy hydrocarbons according to the Fischer-Tropsch process and separation of the hydrocarbons produced, starting from mixtures of reagent gases, essentially consisting of CO and H2, optionally diluted with CO2, in the presence of supported catalysts, which comprises:(a) feeding the reagent gases into a reactor at flow rates which establish heterogeneous or chum-turbulent flow conditions in the reactor, thereby maintaining a dispersion of the solid in the liquid phase, in this manner at least partially transforming the reagent gases into heavy hydrocarbons; and (b) at least partially recovering the heavy hydrocarbons formed in step (a) by external or internal separation of the heavy hydrocarbons from the catalyst particles; wherein, in reaction step (a) the reaction takes place: (1) in the presence of solid particles which have a Reynolds' number (Rep) greater than 0.1, wherein Rep=dp&CenterDot;v&CenterDot;Ï 1Î¼,â€ƒwherein dp is the average particle diameter, v is the relative velocity between particle and liquid, &rgr;1 is the density of the liquid, and &mgr; is the viscosity of the liquid; and (2) maintaining the solid particles suspended at a height H in the reactor so as to establish a Bodenstein number Bos&lE;1, which is determined by the relationship Pes(Usâˆ’U1)/Ug, wherein Pes is the Peclet number of the solid, Us is the sedimentation rate of the solid, U1is the circulation velocity of the liquid phase and Ug is the superficial gas velocity.