Syntroleum catalyst regeneration process for a gas-to-liquid plant

The deactivation of cobalt-based catalysts used in a Fischer Tropsch reactor reduces the reactor productivity as a function of on-stream-time. To maintain the reactor productivity and optimal catalyst performance in the FT process at a reasonable cost, one key challenge is to regenerate the spent catalyst on a regular basis and re-use it in the Fischer Tropsch reactors. After years of research and development, Syntroleum has developed a catalyst regeneration process that consists of withdrawing the spent catalyst from the FT reactor(s) and recovering its activity through multiple treating steps. The treating process includes slurry transfer from/to the SynmGEN unit, gravitational slurry setting, catalyst drying, wax stripping, oxidation, and hydrogen reduction. This process has been successfully demonstrated at the Syntroleum GTL demonstration facility that is co-funded and operated by the Department of Energy, ICRC, and Marathon in Tulsa, Okalahoma. This paper presents the state of art Fischer Tropsch catalyst regeneration scheme and its operations.