Catalysis Today, Vol.348, 55-62, 2020
Experimental investigations on olefin to paraffin ratio in Fischer-Tropsch products using syngas of low Ribblet ratio
Biosyngas generated from gasification of agricultural and forest wastes can be utilized as feed in a Fischer-Tropsch reaction after raising its Ribblet ratio (H-2/(2CO+3CO(2))) to unity through energy-intense steps of WaterGas-Shift reaction and carbon dioxide removal. The direct utilization of raw biosyngas with low Ribblet ratio is a sustainable approach for the production of carbon-neutral synthetic fuel from waste biomass. This work investigates the olefin to paraffin ratios in C-2-C-3 range of hydrocarbons among the Fischer-Tropsch products under different process conditions. A deviation from the classical Anderson-Schulz-Flory (ASF) distribution for enhancing product selectivity towards fuel range hydrocarbons, is possible due to the higher activity of C-2 olefins in various secondary reactions. The investigations in this study also indicate the presence of equilibrium in the ratio of bulk C-3 (olefin+ paraffin)/C-2 (olefin+ paraffin) irrespective of reaction feed composition. A laboratory prepared 0.5Fe/ComesoHZSM-5 catalyst was used with model biosyngas of 0.6, 0.4, and 0.2 Ribblet ratios as feed and the reaction were performed in a continuous fixed-bed reactor in the temperature range of 220-260 degrees C and space velocities of 1800-3400 mLh(-1)g(cat)(-1). The experimental results show a similar trend in carbon monoxide conversion per gram of catalyst for Ribblet ratios of 0.6 and 0.4. The olefin to paraffin ratio in lower hydrocarbon range (n= 5) for various carbon monoxide conversions is used as an indicator of chain growth efficiency in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.
Keywords:Fischer-Tropsch;Catalysis;Low Ribblet ratio;Synthetic fuel;Olefin to paraffin ratio;Biosyngas utilization