Fischer Tropsch Synthesis to Biofuels (BtL Process)

Published 2013

Citation: Rauch R, Kiennemann A, Sauciuc A. Fischer Tropsch Synthesis to Biofuels (BtL Process). The role of catalysis for the sustainable production of Bio-fuels and Bio-chemicals. ISBN 978-0-444-56330-9 2013:397-443.

Abstract

Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis is one option to produce liquid transportation fuels from carbon-containing feedstocks. In the past, FT synthesis was used mainly to convert coal or natural gas to diesel and gasoline. In the last decade, much R&D effort has been made to use this technology to convert biomass to a high-quality transportation fuel. In this chapter, the technology for BtL (conversion of biomass to liquid transportation fuels over FT synthesis) is described, from synthesis gas production including requirements on the gas quality to a detailed description of the FT synthesis itself. The main focus of this chapter is to give an overview of the types of catalysts, also including their preparation, reduction, and aging; the types of FT reactors; and also the reaction conditions including kinetic laws and mechanistic proposals.