Optimal operating condition of Sorption-Enhanced Dual-bed of Fischer-Tropsch Reactor Using Genetic Algorithm

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) plays an important role in the production of clean liquid transportation fuels, chemicals, and other hydrocarbon products. In the present study, the dual bed reactor for FT synthesis with in-situ water adsorption is optimized using genetic algorithm. A novel configuration of FTS reactor in which Zeolite 4A, with the composition of Na12 (Si12Al12O48).27H2O, is considered as water adsorbent. During the FT synthesis process, the motivation for in situ water removal by using adsorbent particles (Zeolite 4A) is to displace the water-gas shift equilibrium to boost gasoline productivity. A configuration of two catalyst beds instead of one single bed with selective adsorption of water inside the first bed is developed for gasoline production. Contact of gas and fine solid particles inside the first reactor results in the selective adsorption of water from the FT synthesis system which increases temperature and gasoline production. In the second converter, the heat of reaction is used to pre-heat the synthesis gas to the first bed. The optimization results reveal that selective water adsorption from FT synthesis in sorption enhanced dual bed reactor (SE-DR) leads to a huge enhancement of gasoline production compared to the other configurations.