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enzymes and binuclear metallohydrolases), Catalysis with Electron Transfer (2), Carbon Metabolism (1), Oxygen Metabolism (11), and Nitrogen Metabolism (4). By now, all the heavy catalytic metals such as Cu, Fe, Ni, Mo, Mn and W seem to have been covered. Hence the last review is on Reactions with Molecular Hydrogen in Microorganisms: Evidence for a Purely Organic Hydrogenation Catalyst. The topics covered may sound too far from our daily bread-and-butter heterogeneous catalysis in industry. Still, sulphatereducing and nitrate/nitrite-reducing bacteria, NO-chewing reductase and such catalysts cannot remain unfamiliar for us for too long. Hydrogen production by some microorganisms in anoxic habitats such as fresh water, marine sediments and wet soils, and the consumption of this hydrogen by other microorganisms living at the same site are estimated to involve more than 200 million tonnes of hydrogen per year. Can we tap off a part of this hydrogen between the producing and consuming microbes? P.G. Menon

Surface Heterogeneity in Adsorption and Catalysis on Solids

The 3rd International Symposium on the Effects of Surface Heterogeneity in Adsorption and Catalysis on Solids is to be held in Lublin, Poland, from 9 to 16 August 1998. Topics for discussion are: Experimental evidence for the geometric and energetic heterogeneity of real solid surfaces, studies of surface defects and their role in adsorption and catalysis, modelling of the formation of the real heterogeneous solids surfaces (fundamental theories, computer simulations, etc.), relations between the fractal features of solid surfaces, and their energetic heterogeneity for adsorption and catalysis, analytical approaches and computer simulations of adsorption by porous surfaces, surface heterogeneity effects in mixed.gas adsorption, in adsorption (desorption) kinetics, surface diffusion, and in sorption by porous adsorbents, the experimental evidence of surface heterogeneity effects in catalysis on solids, relations between adsorptive and catalytic features Ofsolid surfaces. For more information on this meeting, readers should contact Professor Wladyslaw Rudzinski, at the address given in the Calendar of Forthcoming Events.

Indo-Pacific Catalysis Association

An announcement has been received that the 1st Conference of the Indo-Pacific Catalysis Association (IPCAT 1) will be held in Cape Town (South Africa) from 26 to 28 January 1998. Papers will be accepted for presentation at the conference in the areas of Catalyst synthesis, Catalyst characterization, Catalytic reaction engineering, and Catalytic reactions. Further information may be obtained from the organizing secretary, Mrs. M. Winter at the address given in the Calendar of Forthcoming Events.

Fischer-Tropsch conversion of gas to liquid

Houston AIChE Meeting; March 12, t997 One could view the one-day session of Fischer-Tropsch as a tutorial - - devoted on the one hand to basic science and on the other hand to developed and emerging technology and technological applications. Volume 155 No. 1 - - 17 July 1997

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The first two presentations illustrate this contrast. In the opening presentation, E. Iglesia summarized much of the understanding developed by Exxon researchers on the connections between what happens at the catalytic site, within the catalyst pellet and within the reactor. One can obtain this tutorial with much greater personal effort by reading one or more of the recent reviews by the Exxon investigators [1-3]. The next presentation, 'Exxon's Natural Gas to Liquids Conversion Technology - AGC-21 Process,' presented by M. Chang, was a process tutorial that provided, as could be anticipated, less details than Iglesia's presentation. One may view the Exxon process as being designed to be the 'largest of the large,' with plant size anticipated to be in the 50,000 to 100,000 bbl/day range. The AGC-21 process consists of three sub-processes: syngas generation using a fluid bed process with a feed of steam, oxygen and natural gas, Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis in a slurry bubble column reactor using a proprietary catalyst, and hydrocracking using Exxon technology. The process has been demonstrated at the 200 bbl/day level and would be scaled directly to a commercial plant. An Exxon subsidiary and a Qatar corporation have completed a feasibility study for a plant to be located in Qatar that is capable of producing 50,000-100,000 bbl/day; the organizations are now in the process of assessing the results of the study. B. Jager then provided a tutorial that emphasized the advances that have been made during more than 40 years of continuous work on Fischer-Tropsch catalysis in South Africa. The initial fixed-bed Arge reactors have now been replaced by a slurry bubble column reactor; the later

reactor offers many advantages including nearly isothermal operation. The slurry reactor currently produces about 2500 bbl/day and has proven reliable for more than two years of operation. The circulating fluidized bed Synthol reactors have been, or will soon be, replaced by advanced fixed fluidized bed reactors. Again, the advanced Synthol reactor design and operation have been proven by more than two years of commercial operation. The advantages of the advanced Synthol reactor include 65-85% less pressure drop, 70% less catalyst consumption, 75% lower capital cost, and much easier operation. Certainly one would consider the fixed fluidized bed reactor a revolutionary advance; however, it appears that it is the result of continuous efforts toward improvement rather than sudden planning to undertake novel research to make a revolutionary advance. M. Agee then presented the Syntroleum Process. A message in this tutorial was that there are only 93 locations in the world where sufficient natural gas supply would allow for construction of a 50,000 bbl/day plant, and 30 of these already have LNG plants. On the other hand, 40% of the world's reserves would be available if the plant was scaled for 5,000 bbl/day. Agee also indicated that Syntroleum had joint licensing agreements with Texaco and Marathon Oil, and was optimistic about arranging additional ones. In contrast to others, Syntroleum will use compressed air rather than oxygen for syngas generation. As presented, a proprietary catalyst will be used in a fixed bed reactor, similar to the reactors used in the Sasol Arge and Shell Malaysia plants. A surprising feature of the presentation was the product distribution shown for their chain limiting cata-

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lyst. Methane was produced at about 6 volume%, dry gas yield decreased linearly with carbon number to about 1.3 vol.% at C4; the product distribution then increased in volume% to peak at C10or slightly higher and to then decrease so that very little product is produced above C2o. To this correspondent, it appears that the carbon number distribution of the products from the chain limiting process is equal to or superior to the high-severity hydrocracking results reported by Shell for their two stage process. The impression left with this writer is the Syntroleum process does not involve separate Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and hydrocracking reactors. Thus, their results appear to represent a significant accomplishment. D. Brown presented preliminary results for a run conducted in the U.S. DOE slurry bubble column reactor located at LaPorte, Texas and operated by Air Products. An objective of this run, funded by Shell, was to attain a product yield of 200 g hydrocarbon/hour/liter of slurry, and this was accomplished during a brief period of the operation. Catalyst/wax separation was a problem that was encountered during this run. Aleksandr Khasin of the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis in Novosibirsk presented results from a mechanism study using cobalt catalysts at atmospheric pressure. The solubility of hydrogen in the metallic catalyst was considered to be an important feature of the overall synthesis mechanism. Dissolved hydrogen is considered to be essentially at its equilibrium value and serves to hydrogenate the surface carbon to produce the hydrocarbon products. This mechanism, if correct, should allow significant modification of

catalyst properties through the use of alloy compositions as catalysts. A. Singleton, Energy International Corp., presented an overview of their extensive study to develop cobalt-based Fischer-Tropsch catalysts. Results were presented for promoted catalysts in which a second Group VIII metal was included in the formulation as well as a non-reducible metal oxide. A. Raje, University of Kentucky, presented data to show the effect of potassium on iron-based catalysts. The impact of the alkali promoter depends both upon the reaction temperature and the level of the alkali incorporated into the catalyst. While the alkali may act either as a promoter or poison for activity considerations, increasing its concentration invariably leads to higher molecular weight and olefinic products. T. Ryan, III, Southwest Research Institute, presented data showing the beneficial effects of Fischer-Tropsch diesel fuels on both chemical and particulate emissions. Included in the testing were diesel fuels generated by Sasol and the DOE LaPorte pilot plant. S. Kramer, Bechtel National, Inc., presented design/economic considerations of a natural gas based FischerTropsch plant. These results were compared to a mine-mouth plant using Illinois coal. This was a study done at the end of a more extensive DOE funded contract and indicates that for natural gas costs of $2/MMBTU, the fuel would cost $31/bb1. The price of the transportation fuels produced using this process is very dependent upon the location; for remote gas costing $0.5 MMBTU, the price difference for transportation fuel could vary by a factor of 2.

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P. Nolan, University of Arizona, presented a paper entitled 'Carbon Deposition and Hydrocarbon Formation on Group VIII Metal Catalysts' as a substitute for a paper that was withdrawn. He presented a new concept of the rate limiting step for metal-catalyzed carbon formation where the chemistry occurring insidethe metal is at least as important asthe surface chemistry. The formation of vinyl species from CO and H2 via surface alkyls occurs at a greater rate than methane formation when the supply of hydrogen is limited. Hydrogen from the bulk catalyst metal (not adsorbed on the surface) hydrogenates the surface alkyls, indicating that hydrogen solubility may control the metal-catalyzed formation of various hydrocarbons. Thus, these authors extend the view expressed by Khasin since they state that, "Metals with a high solubility of hydrogen relative to carbon are methanation catalysts. Higher hydrocarbons may only form after a dissolved carbon atom adds to a surface carbon species to form a polymerization active site. Chain extension occurs by addition of surface species, while chain termination occurs by reaction with a hydrogen atom dissolved in the catalyst metal."[4]. It will be interesting to see how the views of this manuscript will balance with the result of Emmett and coworkers who showed that the rate of formation of hydrocarbons from the bulk iron carbide was slow compared to the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis with the iron catalyst. The final presentation, by K. AasbergPetersen of Haldor-Topsoe A/S, described

industrial aspects of CO2 reforming. Using a phase diagram, the speaker outlined the thermodynamic limitations for utilizing CO2 under normal conditions where the formation of carbon limits catalyst life-time. The authors assert that the formation of carbon requires a large ensemble of surface atoms whereas steam reforming does not. The speaker demonstrated that the use of sulfur poisoning of a nickel catalyst permitted them to operate with gas compositions containing sufficient CO2 so that carbon formation would be disastrous using the un-poisoned nickel catalyst. Overall, the message from this meeting is one that is much more optimistic than one would have been encountered a few years ago. For example, both keynote addresses to the Fuels & Petrochemical Division considered Fischer-Tropsch synthesis as an approach to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. B.H, Davis

References
[1] E. Iglesia, Stud. Surf. Sci. Catal. 107 (1997) 153-162. [2] E. Iglesia, S.C. Reyes, R.J. Marion and S.L. Soled, Adv. Catal. 39 (1993) 221302. [3] E. Iglesia, S.C. Reyes and S.L. Soled in E.R. Becker and C.J. Pereira (Eds.), Computer-aided Design of Catalysts, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1993. [4] RE. Nolan, D.C. Lynch and A.H. Cutler, Carbon Deposition and Hydrocarbon Formation on Group VIII Metal Catalysts, distributed at the meeting.

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