DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A NOVEL HIGH FORCE MAGNETIC SEPARATOR

THE PLANNED WORK IS AN INVESTIGATION OF HIGH ENERGY PERMANENT MAGNET SEPARATOR DESIGNS WHOSE EXPRESS PURPOSE IS TO PROVIDE AN EFFICIENT MEANS FOR SLURRY REACTOR WAX/CATALYST SEPARATION IN THE FISCHER-TROPSCH PROCESS USING AN IRON-BASED CATALYST. THESE STUDIES WILL INVOLVE MAGNETIC CIRCUIT MODELING AND OPTIMIZATION AS WELL AS BENCH-TYPE RUNS WITH SLURRY REACTOR WAXES/CATALYSTSO AS TO DETERMINE THE EFFICACY OF THE SEPARATOR DESIGN. PHASE I WILL FOCUS ON (1) THE MAGNETIC CHARACTER AND PARTICLE SIZE OF THE FISCHER-TROPSCH CATALYST, (2) THE PROPER MAGNET SIZE AND CONFIGURATION TO MAXIMIZE THE MAGNETIC FORCE DENSITY FOR THE KNOWN MAGNETIC CHARACTER OF THE CATALYST, (3) THE EFFECTS OF FLOW RATE ON THE SEPARATION YIELD, (4) THE DEGREE OF SEPARATION ON A SINGLE PASS, AND (5) THE NEED FOR MULTISTAGE SEPARATION TO OBTAIN WAX RECOVERY WHICH WOULD MEET THE HYDROCRACKING REQUIREMENTS OF <5 PPM SOLIDS CONTENT. THIS STUDY WILL PROVIDE A DATA BASE UPON WHICH LARGER SCALE WAX SEPARATORS COULD BE CONSTRUCTED FOR APPLICATIONS TO SLURRY BUBBLE COLUMN REACTORS.