Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia

PL-6ADVANCEMENT OF CATALYTIC FISCHER-TROPSCH SLURRYBUBBLE COLUMNS VIA ADVANCED MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUESFOR RENEWABLE ENERGY AND CHEMICALS PRODUCTIONDr. Muthanna Al-DahhanMissouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) Rolla, MO 65409Gas to Liquid Fischer Tropsch (FT) synthesis is an acknowledged catalytic routefor production of clean fuels and chemicals from synthesis gas (a mixture ofhydrogen and carbon monoxide) obtained from renewable resources such asbiomass and biogas, and from natural gas and coal. Gas-catalyst fixed fluidized andcirculating fluidized beds, gas-liquid-catalyst trickle beds and slurry bubble columnsand gas-liquid-catalyst monolith beds have been developed and used. Thesecatalytic processes will be outlined and the catalyst types, development and theneeded advanced systems and techniques that integrate molecular to reactor scaleswill be discussed. FT conversions are associated with high exothermic heat for whichan efficient mean of heat removal is needed. Therefore, slurry bubble columnreactors operated in churn turbulent flow regimes are the reactor of choice for suchconversions and for high capacity throughput. Successful commercialization of thesereactors needs thorough understanding of prevailing hydrodynamics of phases(catalyst, liquid, gas) and transports for proper design, scale up, performance andoperation. Therefore, detailed analysis will be given to three phase slurry bubblecolumns for catalytic FT conversion for clean renewable fuels and chemicalsproduction.Advanced measurement techniques have been used and developed whichprovide the needed fundamental understanding of these complex reactors. Thesetechniques are: Radioactive particle tracking (RPT) and multiple radioactive particletracking (MRPT) techniques for the measurement of 3D flow structure, velocity,turbulent parameters, residence time, etc. of multiple phases; computed tomography(CT) and dual source computed tomography (DSCT) for the measurement of thecross sectional phases distribution along the reactor height; gamma ray densitometryfor flow pattern identification; 4-point optical probe for bubble dynamicsmeasurements (bubble size, velocity, local gas holdup and interfacial area); overallgas dynamic tracer technique; optical probe for mass transfer measurement andoverall mass transfer coefficient measurement; heat transfer probe that mimicked the12