Patent ID: 7108070

Claim:
In combination with a fixed offshore hydrocarbon production platform which comprises a deck attached to a base that is secured to the sea floor, the improvement comprising a GTL facility for converting natural gas into a hydrocarbon liquid which comprises: a syngas reactor for converting the natural gas into syngas; and a liquids production unit for converting the syngas into the hydrocarbon liquid; wherein at least one of the syngas reactor and the liquids production unit comprises a monolithic catalyst which includes a solid body, a plurality of discrete channels which extend through the body and comprise walls, and a catalytic material which is deposited on the walls; wherein the monolithic catalyst camorises a cell density of between about 100 cells/in 2 and about 1000 cells/in 2 ; wherein the GTL unit is sufficiently small to be located on the deck of the platform; and wherein the gases flowing through the syngas reactor, or the gases and liquids flowing through the liquids production unit, flow through the channels in a flow regime which substantially eliminates back mixing.