454
• This book chapter covers mostly our recent research on the design and application of silicon and stainless steel microreactors for the conversion of syngas and
syngas enriched with CO 2 into fuels. The current process intensification challenges in adopting microreactor technology to enable modular reactor models to
transfer laboratory research to industry are supported by three case studies.
• The microreactors fabricated using silicon and 3D printed stainless steel offer
impressive catalytic performance in terms of CO conversion and hydrocarbon
selectivity. Further research is necessary to gain an in-depth knowledge of the
reaction mechanism and efficiency to improve the process.
• The choice of FT reactors is usually based on the economics of the entire FT
process, not in terms of product selectivity and catalyst performance. Therefore,
much research attention in conducting techno-economic analysis of these scaleup of microreactor models will help to understand the FT synthesis in microreactors from the economic viewpoint.
• The study of metal and support interaction is crucial in developing robust catalysts for FT synthesis. The utilization of microreactors consisting of microstructures enables ease of understanding of this metal-metal-support interaction for
the effective catalyst development in FT synthesis. Some silica supports like
MCM-41, with very high surface area with long-range ordered structures, lack
the catalyst activity in terms of selectivity and stability. In contrast, different
types of mesoporous supports synthesized from silica have a profound effect on
FT synthesis, selectivity, and kinetics of the reaction as evidenced by extensive
characterization from TPR and XPS experiments.
• The study of complex reaction kinetics and mechanism is still needed to address
the dissociation and addition of reactants on catalyst active surface for chain
growth and termination, thereby favoring the desired FT products using modular units.
• Deactivation of the catalyst also depends very much on the metal-support interactions. Therefore, in situ catalyst regeneration during FT synthesis can be a
viable option for a longer time on stream in microreactors without losing FT
efficiency.
Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the funding received from NSF CREST (#260326)
and UNC-ROI (#110092). Part of the work was performed at North Carolina A&T State University
and Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, a member of the Southeastern
Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor (SENIC) and National Nanotechnology Coordinated
Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant
ECCS-1542174).
References
1. Maitlis PM, de Klerk A (2013) Greener Fischer-tropsch processes: for fuels and feedstocks.
Wiley, Hoboken
2. Basha OM, Sehabiague L, Abdel-Wahab A, Morsi BI (2015) Fischer–Tropsch synthesis in
slurry bubble column reactors: experimental investigations and modeling–a review. Int J Chem
React Eng 13(3):201–288
N. Mohammad et al.
• This book chapter covers mostly our recent research on the design and application of silicon and stainless steel microreactors for the conversion of syngas and
syngas enriched with CO 2 into fuels. The current process intensification challenges in adopting microreactor technology to enable modular reactor models to
transfer laboratory research to industry are supported by three case studies.
• The microreactors fabricated using silicon and 3D printed stainless steel offer
impressive catalytic performance in terms of CO conversion and hydrocarbon
selectivity. Further research is necessary to gain an in-depth knowledge of the
reaction mechanism and efficiency to improve the process.
• The choice of FT reactors is usually based on the economics of the entire FT
process, not in terms of product selectivity and catalyst performance. Therefore,
much research attention in conducting techno-economic analysis of these scaleup of microreactor models will help to understand the FT synthesis in microreactors from the economic viewpoint.
• The study of metal and support interaction is crucial in developing robust catalysts for FT synthesis. The utilization of microreactors consisting of microstructures enables ease of understanding of this metal-metal-support interaction for
the effective catalyst development in FT synthesis. Some silica supports like
MCM-41, with very high surface area with long-range ordered structures, lack
the catalyst activity in terms of selectivity and stability. In contrast, different
types of mesoporous supports synthesized from silica have a profound effect on
FT synthesis, selectivity, and kinetics of the reaction as evidenced by extensive
characterization from TPR and XPS experiments.
• The study of complex reaction kinetics and mechanism is still needed to address
the dissociation and addition of reactants on catalyst active surface for chain
growth and termination, thereby favoring the desired FT products using modular units.
• Deactivation of the catalyst also depends very much on the metal-support interactions. Therefore, in situ catalyst regeneration during FT synthesis can be a
viable option for a longer time on stream in microreactors without losing FT
efficiency.
Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the funding received from NSF CREST (#260326)
and UNC-ROI (#110092). Part of the work was performed at North Carolina A&T State University
and Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, a member of the Southeastern
Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor (SENIC) and National Nanotechnology Coordinated
Infrastructure (NNCI), which is supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant
ECCS-1542174).
References
1. Maitlis PM, de Klerk A (2013) Greener Fischer-tropsch processes: for fuels and feedstocks.
Wiley, Hoboken
2. Basha OM, Sehabiague L, Abdel-Wahab A, Morsi BI (2015) Fischer–Tropsch synthesis in
slurry bubble column reactors: experimental investigations and modeling–a review. Int J Chem
React Eng 13(3):201–288
N. Mohammad et al.