Liquid fuels have the merit of high energy density, easy storage and established infrastructure. It will remain as the major fuels for transportation in the near future. There is a need to convert solid (coal, biomass) and gaseous (natural gas, biogas) fuels into liquid transportation fuels such as gasoline, jet and diesel fuels. Western Research Institute's synthetic fuel program is developing catalysts and processes for conversion of coal, biomass, stranded natural gas and biogas into liquid fuels via synthesis gas routes.                Conversion of synthesis gas to liquid fuels is highly exothermic. The enthalpy of CH2 unit formation from synthesis gas is -165kj/mol. So reaction heat management is crucial for synthesis gas conversion. Western Research Institute, teamed with Chart Energy and Fuels Inc, developed a compact heat exchange reactor (CHER) which applies the high efficiency heat exchange concept into reactor design for reaction heat management. CHER is modular and suitable for small and portable synthesis gas conversion plant.                A 66ml stainless steel prototype CHER installed at WRI which is capable of operating at 1500 psi and 700F. The prototype CHER has been tested with several syngas conversion reactions including: synthesis of methanol, synthesis of DME, synthesis of mixed alcohols, as well as the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis. The reactor has demonstrated superb heat transfer efficiency and up to 5x process intensification. The CHER has recently been scaled up to 2 liter catalyst loading. An economic assessment of the conversion of Wyoming stranded natural gas into gasoline via MTG based on CHER reactor shows that even small-scale facilities can be cost competitive.

Synthetic fuels production with compact heat exchange reactors

246th National Meeting (2013)

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