Patent ID: 8729142

Claim:
A method for recovering hydrocarbon compounds from gaseous by-products generated in the Fisher-Tropsch synthesis reaction, the method comprising: a discharging step in which the gaseous by-products are discharged from an FT synthesis reactor; a heat exchanging step in which the gaseous by-products discharged from the FT synthesis reactor are cooled by exchanging heat with a recycled gaseous by-products; a pressurizing step in which the gaseous by-products cooled in the heat exchanging step are pressurized; a cooling step in which the pressurized gaseous by-products are cooled down to liquefy hydrocarbon compounds in the gaseous by-products; a separating step in which the hydrocarbon compounds liquefied in the cooling step are separated from the remaining gaseous by-products; and a recycling step in which at least a portion of the remaining gaseous by-products are recycled to the FT synthesis reactor as a feedstock gas for the Fisher-Tropsch synthesis reaction, wherein the portion of the remaining gaseous by-products recycled to the FT synthesis reactor also serves as the recycled gaseous by-products in the heat exchanging step for cooling the gaseous by-products discharged from the FT synthesis reactor.