Patent ID: 6846404

Claim:
A process for converting CO 2 -rich natural gas into liquid fuel, the process comprising: a) introducing a CO 2 -rich natural gas feed stream into a synthesis gas formation reactor; b) forming a synthesis gas in the synthesis gas formation reactor; c) introducing at least a portion of the synthesis gas into a Fischer-Tropsch reactor; d) conducting a Fischer-Tropsch process on the synthesis gas and generating a Fischer-Tropsch product comprising C 5 + components; e) separating a naphtha from the Fischer-Tropsch product and recovering a C 10 + product; f) introducing the naphtha into a naphtha reformer; g) generating hydrogen by-product by reforming the naphtha to obtain a C 6 -C 10 product having a hydrogen to carbon ratio of less than about 2.0; h) recirculating at least a portion of the hydrogen by-product and mixing the hydrogen by-product with the CO 2 -rich natural gas feed stream, converting at least a portion of the CO 2 present in the CO 2 -rich natural gas feed stream into additional CO by a reverse water gas shift reaction so that the synthesis gas derived from the feed stream contains a volume amount of CO 2 that is less than a volume amount of CO 2 present in the feed stream prior to mixing with the hydrogen by-product; and i) converting the additional CO into hydrocarbons in the Fischer-Tropsch reactor.