CANS catalyst carriers ( United States of America Patent No. US8906970 (B2), 2014 ), effectively forming a series of mini radial-flow reactors with interbed cooling. Syngas enters from above, flows down a porous central channel (A), and moves radially through the catalyst bed (B) where the FT reaction occurs. The gas then exits through a porous outer wall (C) and is cooled as it flows down the space between the carrier and the reactor wall, transferring heat to boiling water on the shell side (D). A seal ensures the gas flows into the next carrier, repeating the process (E) (see Figure 4 ).This design allows for: • Efficient heat transfer due to high gas velocity and radial flow. • Improved temperature control without quenching the reaction. • Use of wider tubes (75-100 mm) while maintaining low pressure drop. • Operation with >50% inerts , enabling high CO conversion (>90%) in a single stage recycle loop (see Figure 5 ). Performance and practical benefits Compared to conventional fixed-bed reactors, the CANS system: • Reduces the number of reactor tubes by 95%. • Cuts capital costs by ~50%. • Triples production capacity for the same reactor size. • Halves the catalyst volume required.
95
A step change in FT
Catalyst carriers
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Gen 2
Reactor improvements
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Catalyst improvements
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Gen 1
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100
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C productivity (g/l/hr) +
Awards (2017), the Rushlight Clean Energy and Bioenergy Awards (2020) and the Gulf Energy Excellence Awards (2024), highlighting its potential to support the evolution of the synthetic fuels industry. A hybrid reactor design The FT CANS system merges the strengths of fixed-bed and slurry-phase reactors. Its modular design supports low-risk scale-up and straightforward operation, while the use of sub-millimetre catalyst particles boosts both productivity and selectivity. Each reactor tube contains 60-80 stacked Figure 3 Step change in FT performance through innovative catalyst and reactor technologies
A
d
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Bene ts of FB and Slurry combined Pressure drop – bed length reduced by 85%
B C
Heat can be removed easier from exothermic reaction
L/70
D
Bed length L (10-15m)
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∆P across 2-3m of catalyst (sum of black arrows, not red arrows) Improved heat transfer and controlled pressure drop over conventional tubes ∆P across 10-15m of catalyst
Figure 4 S chematic of the CANS catalyst carrier (left), and some of the operational benefits that are achieved (right), namely reduced pressure drop across the catalyst in the CANS carriers than the same catalyst in a conventional tube and improved heat transfer vs conventional fixed bed reactors, where the hottest point in the CANS carrier is adjacent to the cooling tube wall
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