Intensified Unit Operations and Lightweight Plant Design for Mobile Synthetic Fuel Plants

Diversified Energy Corporation and Velocys Incorporated have created an industry team that combines a breakthrough gasification approach with an innovative Fischer Tropsch reactor to provide an integrated, compact, portable, robust, process intensified, modular, end-to-end Fischer Tropsch fuel solution that achieves the 3 t/b/d OSD stated objective while producing 50 – 500 b/d of product. HydroMax (gasification), based on molten-metal technology, achieves size and weight reductions due to the large thermal inertia of molten-metal and rapid kinetics, and resultant reaction rates, associated with steam/carbon injection profiles. HydroMax produces hydrogen and CO-rich syngas in separate/distinct streams which is ideal for a Fischer Tropsch reactor. Velocys’ FT technology incorporates a microchannel carbon-hydrogen combiner approach that reduces the mass and footprint required by 90%. During SBIR Phase I, the team will focus on four objectives: 1) Bench-scale test data integration analysis 2) Plant conceptual design, layout, and simulation 3) Economic assessment 4) Modularity and logistics assessment. Independent laboratory and bench-scale tests of both technologies will form the basis for the analysis. Anticipated results of this effort include a feasibility/economic assessment of the integrated approach, a conceptual design of an operational plant, and feedstock/output analysis trades that will establish the foundation for a Phase II demonstration.