CATALYST STRUCTURE Russian patent published in 2010 - IPC B01J19/24 B01J8/04 B01J8/06 B01J8/22 C10G2/00 

FIELD: chemistry.

SUBSTANCE: method is described for synthesis of hydrocarbons in a three-phase reactor, involving the following steps: (i) feeding synthesis gas into the reactor; (ii) bringing the synthesis gas into contact with a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst; and (iii) removing products from the reactor, where step (i) involves feeding part of the entire synthesis gas into the reactor near or in the bottom part of the reactor; and step (ii) involves bringing synthesis gas reagent into contact with the catalyst structure fixed inside the reactor, where the catalyst structure includes one or more porous catalyst elements mounted inside the reactor, each of the said porous catalyst elements has size of at least 1 cm³, preferably 10 cm³, and where volume of pores inside each porous catalyst element is at least 60% of the volume of the porous catalyst elements and each porous catalyst element contains Fischer-Tropsch catalyst material, in which the said porous element or each porous catalyst element is made in form of a net, a sponge, a structure made from foil or woven mat. Also described is a reactor for realising the said method, where the reactor includes a housing, apparatus for inlet of reagents into the reactor housing, one or more catalyst structures, cooling apparatus, and apparatus for removing products from the reactor housing; in which at least one of the catalyst structures includes at least one porous catalyst element which is fixed relative the reactor housing, each catalyst element has size of at least 1 cm³, preferably at least 10 cm³ and in which volume of pores inside each porous catalyst element is at least 60% of the porous catalyst elements, and each porous catalyst element contains Fischer-Tropsch catalyst material. Also described is a porous catalyst element suitable for hydrocarbon synthesis, containing Fischer-Tropsch catalyst material, which can be fixed and has size of approximately 1 cm³, preferably at least 10 cm³, in which the element is made in form of a net, a sponge, a structure made from foil or woven mat, and in which volume of pores inside each porous catalyst element is at least 60% of the volume of the porous catalyst elements, preferably at least 70%, and more preferably at least 75%.

EFFECT: improved uniformity of gas distribution inside the reactor and provision for uniform catalyst distribution.

19 cl, 1 dwg