Investigation of H2 staging effects on CO conversion and product distribution for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis in a structured microchannel reactor

The effect of H2 staging for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis over a 20 wt% Co/SiO2 catalyst in a 200 μL wall-coated channel microreactor was investigated.Some pre-experimental modeling was developed from a modified pseudo-homogeneous 1D reactor model using a pre-established rate form for CO consumption. The predicted CO conversion levels attained for various discrete staging policies were investigated and the results were used as a pre-selection tool. It was used to design a H2 staged reactor with three equally spaced injection ports.The experimental set-up was used to get conversion and product distribution data for various H2 distribution policies. The experimental conversions were in good agreement with the modeling. The tuning of H2 flow pattern over the three ports lowered the CO conversion and increased mainly C5–C9 selectivity. Once combined, these effects allowed to half the C1–C4 yield without dramatically reducing the overall C5+ yield allowing a smarter use of H2. A non-uniform increasing staging policy gave the best product distribution for C5+ increased production at 0.1 MPa and 180 °C.