Theoretical analysis of oxidative coupling of methane and Fischer Tropsch synthesis in two consecutive reactors: Comparison of fixed bed and membrane reactor

In this paper, theoretical performance of Fischer Tropsch (FT) synthesis is analyzed where its feed comes from an oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reactor. In this model based analysis, two consecutive reactors are intended that first reactor is OCM and second reactor is FT and FT reactor performance is compared in two conditions of fixed bed and membrane reactor (MR). The parameters concerned, were CH4/O-2 ratio, contact time, temperature, and amount of N-2 in OCM feed. High CH4/O-2 ratio gave low yield of C2+ in OCM due to insufficient oxygen, but favored FT reaction due to more yield of C5+ and other products. Therefore, it was concluded that production and yield of C5+ could be more by use of these configurations. (C) 2013 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.