Honeycomb monolith catalyst support for catalytic distillation reactor

摘要

An apparatus and method is disclosed for producing hydrocarbons according to the Fischer-Tropsch process. The apparatus comprises a catalytic distillation reactor where reactants are fed into the catalytic distillation reactor to undergo catalytic reaction to form hydrocarbons. Physical separation of the unreacted materials and products occurs simultaneously in the catalytic distillation reactor. The catalytic distillation reactor is divided into reaction chambers so as to optimize control of the reaction and the distribution of hydrocarbon products. A monolith, such as a foam monolith or a honeycomb monolith, preferably a honeycomb monolith, is disposed with said reaction chamber serves both as catalyst support and as distillation packing material. A honeycomb monolith preferably includes channels having an axis disposed at a nonzero angle with respect to the axis of a reaction chamber containing the honeycomb monolith. External heat exchangers are provided for the recovery of the heat generated in the reaction.