Opportunities for reducing product costs in indirect liquefaction

摘要

The MITRE indirect liquefaction simulation model for the advanced configuration that includes Shell gasification and slurry-phase F-T synthesis was downsized to coincide with the Bechtel/Amoco conceptual plant with a nominal capacity of 50,000 barrels per stream day. Then the kinetic parameters used by Bechtel/Amoco in the slurry F-T model were substituted in the model. This resulted in the same per pass conversion and in the same number of reactors as estimated in the Bechtel basecase. The total capital cost for this plant was estimated to be $2982 million using the MITRE model. This agrees well with the preliminary Bechtel/Amoco capital cost of $2961 million for the same size plant(3). Once the WM simulation of the basecase plant was shown to be in agreement with the Bechtel/Amoco case, the analysis of further potential cost reductions beyond the basecase could be investigated. This analysis only investigated the potential cost reductions that could result from improvements in the F-T area of the conceptual plant. This is the area that is impacted by the research and development underway in the indirect program. The cost impact of the following potential improvements were investigated using the MITRE simulation model: Doubling the baseline catalyst activity; doubling the catalyst loading; and doubling the superficial gas velocity.