Adoption of Highly Conductive Open Cell Foams As an Effective Solution to Enhance the Heat Transfer Performances of Packed-Bed Fischer-Tropsch Reactors

摘要

In the last decade, the interest in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) in compact reactors has been considerably renewed in view of exploiting both associated and remote natural gas fields and biomass. In view of the highly exothermic nature of the reaction, the heat removal is a key issue for the development of an intensified reactor [1]. The use of conventional packed-bed reactors (PBRs) is severely limited by heat removal causing a series of constraints which limit the catalyst performances. The poor heat transport properties in PBRs lead to non-isothermal operation of the reactor. This negatively affects the catalyst selectivity and, in the worst case, leads to the onset of thermal runaway [2].