REACTOR DEVELOPMENT FOR CONVERSION OF NATURAL-GAS TO LIQUID FUELS - ASCALE-UP STRATEGY RELYING ON HYDRODYNAMIC ANALOGIES

Gas-solid fluidized beds and bubble column slurry reactors are very co mmonly encountered in processes for conversion of natural gas to liqui d fuels and light olefins. This paper proposes a unified design and sc ale-up strategy for such ''fluidized'' multiphase reactors. The approa ches uses hydrodynamic analogies as a basis. These analogies have been investigated in a variety of gas-solid and gas-liquid systems in seve ral columns varying in diameters between 0.05 m and 0.63 m. It is argu ed that the appreciation of the hydrodynamic analogies will allow cros s-fertilisation of concept and design data, thereby reducing process d evelopment costs.