Syntroleum Catalyst Regeneration Process For A Gas-To-Liquid Plant

摘要

The deactivation of cobalt-based catalysts used in a Fischer Tropsch reactor reduces the reactor productivity as a function of on-stream-time.To maintain the reactor productivity and optimal catalyst performance in the FT process at a reasonable cost,one key challenge is to regenerate the spent catalyst on a regular basis and re-use it in the Fischer Tropsch reactors.After years of research and development,Syntroleum has developed a catalyst regeneration process that consists of withdrawing the spent catalyst from the FT reactor(s)and recovering its activity through multiple treating steps.The treating process includes slurry transfer from/to the SynmGEN~(TM)unit,gravitational slurry setting,catalyst drying,wax stripping,oxidation,and hydrogen reduction.This process has been successfully demonstrated at the Syntroleum GTL demonstration facility that is co-funded and operated by the Department of Energy,ICRC,and Marathon in Tulsa,Okalahoma.This paper presents the state of art Fischer Tropsch catalyst regeneration scheme and its operations.