Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis for Production of Synthetic Jet Fuel

Greenfield Global is developing a process to produce jet fuel from renewable materials, such as waste biomass and organic municipal waste. Fischer–Tropsch synthesis converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen (synthesis gas) that was produced from the waste biomass and organic municipal waste into a synthetic crude oil that can be refined to produce jet fuel. This project deals only with Fischer–Tropsch synthesis.

Much is already known about Fischer–Tropsch synthesis and the objective of the work in this project is to fine-tune the catalyst and technology for synthetic jet fuel production. In collaboration with Greenfield Global, a pilot plant with multi-stage tubular packed bed reactors filled with an iron-based catalyst will be designed and commissioned to evaluate the design envisioned for their synthetic jet fuel process. Important objectives are to maintain reaction conditions so that heat can be recovered by generating high-pressure steam, to enable sufficiently high overall conversion that recycling of synthesis gas can be avoided, and to produce a product that would benefit refinery design for jet fuel production.

Faculty Supervisor:

Arno de Klerk

Student:

Felix Rudolf August Link

Partner:

Greenfield Global

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Alberta