Design and Operation of a Fluidized Bed Reactor Mini-Pilot Plant for Gasoline Synthesis

MethanoI-to-Gasoline (MTG) process is an excellent process which produces aromatics-rich gasoline from methanol over the ZSM-5 catalyst. The methanol feed in this process is usually derived from coal or natural gas based syngas. The dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether (DME) is a key intermediate step in converting methanol into gasoline. The substitution of syngas-to-methanol step in the MTG process by the direct one stage conversion of syngas-to-DME is thus a very attractive option. This substitution is particularly justified on the basis of the fact that DME results in virtually identical hydrocarbon product distribution as methanol. Synthesis of gasoline via this direct DME route has several significant advantages over the MTG process, in the areas of product yield, selectivity, overall syngas conversion, exothermicity, and reactor size. The conceptual advantages of this DME-to-gasoline (DTG) process can be demonstrated in a laboratory scale fluidized bed gasoline synthesis unit. This paper discusses the design philosophy of the fluidized bed reactor unit and its peripherals. The fabrication, assembly, and operation of the unit have also been discussed in detail