Conocophillips Company

Todd H Harkins

Rafael Luis Espinoza

Harold A Wright

Sergio R Mohedas

Joe D Allison

Jianping Zhang

Beatrice C Ortego

Doug S Jack

Larry D Swinney

Vincent H Melquist

Ralph T Goodwin, Iii

James Dale Ortego, Jr

Oluwaseyi A Odueyungbo

Jack E Cnossen

The invention relates to methods for prevention of and recovery from a catalyst bed slumping in a gas-agitated multiphase hydrocarbon synthesis reactor, while the reactor is either under non-reactive conditions or under reaction promoting conditions when syngas is converted to products. The reactor contains a catalyst bed comprising catalyst particles and a gas injection zone suitable for injecting a reactor gas feed. A method for preventing bed slumping comprises supplying a supplemental gas to the gas-agitated multiphase reactor to prevent the catalyst bed from slumping due to insufficient reactor gas feed flow. The method may include recycling some or all of the supplemental gas to the reactor. The method may further comprise separating the gas injection zone from the catalyst bed with a porous plate so as to prevent migration of catalyst particles into the gas injection zone and to minimize plugging of gas distributor(s) present in said zone.

Prevention of and recovering from a catalyst bed slumping in a gas-agitated multiphase reactor

This invention relates to methods and apparatus for separating liquid products and catalyst particles from a slurry used in a Fischer-Tropsch reactor system. The preferred embodiments of the present invention are characterized by a separation system that uses a sedimentation chamber, which contains at least one inclined channel that enhances the settling of particles within the slurry. The enhanced settling separates the slurry into a catalyst-rich bottom stream and a catalyst-lean overhead stream. The catalyst-rich bottom product stream is preferably recycled to the reactor, while the catalyst-lean overhead stream can be further processed by a secondary separation system to produce valuable synthetic fuels. The inclined channel may be provided by a structure selected from the group consisting of tube, pipe, conduit, sheets, trays, walls, plates, and combinations thereof.

Systems and methods for catalyst/hydrocarbon product separation

A process for producing hydrocarbons comprises providing a multi-tubular reactor having at least 100 tubes units containing a catalyst, each tube being between 2 and 5 meters tall and in thermal contact with a cooling fluid; feeding hydrogen and carbon monoxide to each tube at a linear gas superficial velocity less than about 60 cm/s; and converting the gas feedstream to hydrocarbons on the catalyst, wherein the yield of hydrocarbons in each tube is greater than 100 (kg hydrocarbons)/hr/(mreaction zone). Each tube may have an internal diameter greater than 2 centimeters. The catalyst may be active for Fischer Tropsch synthesis and may comprise cobalt or iron. The maximum difference in the radially-averaged temperature between two points that are axially spaced along the reactor is less than 15&#xb0; C., preferably less than 10&#xb0; C. The catalyst loading or intrinsic activity may vary along the length of the reactor.

Commercial fischer-tropsch reactor

An apparatus and method is disclosed for producing alcohols, particularly methanol, according to an alcohol synthesis process. The apparatus comprises a catalytic distillation reactor where reactants are fed into the catalytic distillation reactor to undergo catalytic reaction to form methanol. Methanol production beyond the thermodynamic limit is achieved in the apparatus through use of multiple distillation stages, preferably at least three.

Use of catalytic distillation reactor for methanol synthesis

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Ponca City, OK, United States of America

Todd H Harkins