Innovation in Fischer–Tropsch: Developing Fundamental Understanding to Support Commercial Opportunities

Abstract

In this contribution we provide details of the BP-Johnson Matthey proprietary Fischer–Tropsch technology and the advanced CANS reactor and catalyst system. The advanced CANS catalyst carrier reactor provides superior heat transfer, reduced pressure drop and higher productivity that lead to major economic savings. Fundamental understanding of catalyst behaviour is also key to obtaining a catalyst that is stable over the lifetime of its use. Synthesis, calcination and reduction steps introduce changes in the catalyst properties prior to syngas introduction. In particular, the presence of water can affect the final catalyst performance. The activity of a good catalyst can be significantly reduced by a sub-optimal activation or start-up. Similarly, stable operation and minimising deactivation are vital for long and stable catalyst life, with years of operation without requiring regeneration. In this report we also share a fundamental study on the catalyst activation across different catalyst supports. This combines advanced in situ techniques with reactor testing to explore the role of the support on catalyst performance. The results illustrate the critical need for a logical and systematic catalyst development programme to explore these effects to optimise the whole FT process. The combination of a joint approach in development plays a key role in a long term success in a process. The fundamental catalyst understanding, optimisation and improvements in combination with the novel CANS reactor design maximise their potential and offer the potential for a world leading technology.

Green Carbon Science: Keeping the Pace in Practice

“…A collaboration between BP and Johnson Matthey Davy has resulted in the development of an advanced fixed-bed reactor design with CANS TM catalyst carriers, which is currently commercialized in the USA for waste-to-fuel projects. [70] These novel technologies aim at developing a syngas platform.…”

“…Apart from developing more efficient catalytic materials to operate under milder reaction conditions, high‐efficiency reactors should be studied in depth in this field to optimize the use of fossil energy. A collaboration between BP and Johnson Matthey Davy has resulted in the development of an advanced fixed‐bed reactor design with CANS TM catalyst carriers, which is currently commercialized in the USA for waste‐to‐fuel projects [70] . These novel technologies aim at developing a syngas platform.…”

Climate Neutrality Concepts for the German Chemical–Pharmaceutical Industry

“…World-scale plants are necessary for worldwide competitiveness, which denies the benefit of decentralized small-scale plants and which causes pipelines of main key-components such as H 2 , CO 2 , MeOH and ammonia. The internal CO 2 cycle has to be closed into MeOH by Fischer-Tropsch processing as a single main carbon source bulk chemical by Fischer-Tropsch processing and further-on into polymer processes, which will lead into the CO 2 recycling cycle again [130][131][132]. The chemical-pharmaceutical industry needs external energy of 5066 PJ (1407 TWh) for Haber-Bosch processing including H 2 electrolysis and air separation (N 2 ).…”

Quantitative carbon distribution analysis of hydrocarbons, alcohols and carboxylic acids in a Fischer-Tropsch product from a Co/TiO2 catalyst during gas phase pilot plant operation

“…BP and Johnson Matthey (JM) have been collaborating over many years to commercialise a propriety FT synthesis technology (Coe and Paterson 2019;Peacock et al 2020). A tubular reactor demonstration plant was commissioned in Alaska in 2002 (Collins et al 2006) using a Co/ZnO catalyst.…”

“…1, that allows for the use of small catalyst particles and, at the same time, BP developed a new second-generation catalyst. The combination of an improved catalyst and CANS™ reactor design produced a step change in FT performance achieving the advantages of both fixed-bed tubular reactors and slurry phase systems (Coe and Paterson 2019;Peacock et al 2020). This step improvement in FT technology gives three times the catalyst productivity and halves the capital expenditure when compared with conventional multi-tubular fixed bed FT reactors.…”