Assessment of a Bench-Scale Additively Manufactured Evaporation-Cooled Structured Packed Bed Reactor For FT Synthesis

The structured packed bed concept improves heat transfer in fixed bed reactors by incorporating interconnected metallic matrices within the particle bed. This concept can be used to improve performance of conventional fixed-beds for exothermic reactions, offering a compelling alternative to high-performance microstructured reactors. This article examines the development and testing of a compact Co-catalyzed Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reactor. A bench-scale reactor with 15 mm i.d. gas-side channels was realized, incorporating 3D printed high conductivity aluminium inserts with a periodic open cell structure (POCS), achieving a catalyst loading ratio of 0.08 kg catalyst per kg reactor. The printed steel reactor core has integrated i.d. 1.5 mm coolant-side channels tailored for water evaporation cooling. Performance evaluation of the reactor revealed precise control over reaction heat, achieving operational specific heat duties up to 1250 kW m-3bed. Furthermore, the system demonstrated favourable product distribution, with CH4 selectivity maintained below 10% at CO conversions of 70% or higher at an average catalyst temperature of 219°C. A 1D heat transfer model was implemented which predicted an >6X improvement of the gas-side heat transfer over a conventional packed bed. This work demonstrates the feasibility of the structured packed bed concept to enable lightweight high-performance FT reactors.