Fischer–Tropsch fuels refinery design

Energy Environ. Sci., 2011, 4, 1177-1205

Fischer–Tropsch fuels refinery design

Arno de Klerk

Carbon sources, including coal, natural gas, biomass and waste, can be converted into transportation fuels by combining appropriate gasification, Fischer–Tropsch and refining technologies.

Efficient refining of the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis derived syncrude requires a different approach to refinery design than commonly applied to crude oil refinery design. The design of refineries to optimise the production of on-specification motor-gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel respectively from both high temperature Fischer–Tropsch (HTFT) syncrude and low temperature Fischer–Tropsch (LTFT) are considered.

Only diesel fuel refining presented a problem, since the production of on-specification EN590:2004 diesel fuel is limited by a Fischer–Tropsch specific cetane-density-yield trade-off. The compound classes that are required to produce diesel fuel in high yield that meet both minimum cetane number and minimum density requirements are not abundant in Fischer–Tropsch syncrude.

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