Progress in Reactors for High-Temperature Fischer-Tropsch Process: Determination Place of Intensifier Reactor Perspective

High-temperature Fischer-Tropsch (HTFT) process aims to produce lighter cuts such as gasoline and diesel. For many years there have been studies and improvements on HTFT process to make the existing reactors more efficient. Recent studies proposed new configurations such as dual-type membrane reactor and coupling configurations reactor, which improved the performances of this process. This achievement persuades us to update the existing knowledge about the available reactors for HTFT process. In this article, features and performances overview of two classes of reactors are reviewed. The first class consists of the reactors which are based on older studies, and the second one includes recent studies which are called product intensifier reactors. Finally, it is shown that the product intensifier reactors have higher CO conversions and lower selectivity of undesired by-products which results in higher production yield of gasoline. Furthermore, the place of product intensifier reactor among common reactors with regard to the influence of the process parameters on the product distribution has been estimated.