A membrane reactor includes a catalyst layer, a separation membrane, and a buffer layer. The catalyst layer contains a catalyst for promoting a conversion reaction from a feed gas containing hydrogen and carbon oxide to a liquid fuel. The separation membrane is permeable to water vapor which is a byproduct of the conversion reaction. The buffer layer is disposed between the separation membrane and the catalyst layer, and permeable to the water vapor toward the separation membrane.

The disclosed invention relates to a method for restarting a synthesis gas conversion process which has stopped. The synthesis gas conversion process may be conducted in a conventional reactor or a microchannel reactor. The synthesis gas conversion process may comprise a process for converting synthesis gas to methane, methanol or dimethyl ether. The synthesis gas conversion process may be a Fischer-Tropsch process.

A method to produce a fuel product such as jet fuel, diesel or single battlefield fuel from a Fischer Tropsch syncrude comprising the steps of: 1) Separating the HFTL product from the reactor effluent gasses at reactor temperature and partially cooling the reactor effluent gas before transferring it to the enhanced hot separator; 2) enhancing the hot separator downstream of the Fischer Tropsch reactor with trays or packing and also adding reflux of the LFTL product, to improve separation efficiency and substantially reduce the C16+ portion of the hydrocarbons in the LFTL product; 3) combining the HFTL and MFTL product to from a combined HFTL product and further processing the combined HFTL in a hydroprocessing reactor that has a stacked bed with a layer of hydrocracking catalyst to crack the waxy C20+ hydrocarbons and a layer of hydroisomerization catalyst to isomerize the light fraction to increase the iso to n-paraffin ratio of the hydroprocessed product; 4) the LFTL product that is not recycled to the hot separator as reflux, bypasses the hydroprocessing reactor and is blended with the hydroprocessed product before distillation; and 5) the combined raw LFTL product and the hydroprocessed product is distilled to make naphtha, a fuel product, and a baseoil product. The method may be modified to make a single fuel product, preferably a jet fuel product.

Disclosed herein is a system comprising: a) a separator tank comprising a first inlet, a second inlet, a first outlet, and a second outlet, b) a heat exchanger, and c) a holding tank comprising a third inlet and a third outlet, wherein the separator tank is in fluid communication with the holding tank via a first connector and via a second connector, wherein the first connector is connected to the first outlet of the separator tank and to the third inlet of the holding tank, wherein the second connector is connected to the first inlet of the separator tank and to the third outlet of the holding tank, and wherein the first connector and the second connector are in communication with the heat exchanger.

A method to produce a fuel product such as jet fuel, diesel or single battlefield fuel from a Fischer Tropsch syncrude comprising the steps of: 1) Separating the HFTL product from the reactor effluent gasses at reactor temperature and partially cooling the reactor effluent gas before transferring it to the enhanced hot separator; 2) enhancing the hot separator downstream of the Fischer Tropsch reactor with trays or packing and also adding reflux of the LFTL product, to improve separation efficiency and substantially reduce the C16+ portion of the hydrocarbons in the LFTL product; 3) combining the HFTL and MFTL product to from a combined HFTL product and further processing the combined HFTL in a hydroprocessing reactor that has a stacked bed with a layer of hydrocracking catalyst to crack the waxy C20+ hydrocarbons and a layer of hydroisomerization catalyst to isomerize the light fraction to increase the iso to n-paraffin ratio of the hydroprocessed product; 4) the LFTL product that is not recycled to the hot separator as reflux, bypasses the hydroprocessing reactor and is blended with the hydroprocessed product before distillation; and 5) the combined raw LFTL product and the hydroprocessed product is distilled to make naphtha, a fuel product, and a baseoil product. The method may be modified to make a single fuel product, preferably a jet fuel product.

The present disclosures and inventions relate reactor and method useful in Fischer-Tropsch processes, such as a reactor comprising a first one or more catalyst holding zones, wherein each of the first one or more catalyst holding zones have a first inner surface, wherein the first inner surface defines a first interior space, wherein each of the first one or more catalyst holding zones have a first longitudinal axis, wherein each of the first one or more catalyst holding zones have a first end and a second end, wherein the first inner surface is tapered towards the first longitudinal axis from the first end towards the second end, and wherein each of the first one or more catalyst holding zones are configured to perform an exothermic reaction.

Disclosed herein are reactors comprising: a) a first mixing zone, b) a first reaction zone, c) a first cooling zone, d) a first H.sub.2O separation zone, e) a second mixing zone, f) a second reaction zone, g) a second cooling zone, and h) a second H.sub.2O separation zone, wherein the first mixing zone is in fluid communication with the first reaction zone, wherein the first reaction zone is in fluid communication with the first cooling zone, wherein the first cooling zone is in fluid communication with the first H.sub.2O separation zone, wherein the first H.sub.2O separation zone is in fluid communication with the second mixing zone, wherein the second mixing zone is in fluid communication with the second reaction zone, wherein the second reaction zone is in fluid communication with the second cooling zone, and wherein the second cooling zone is in fluid communication with the second H.sub.2O separation zone.

Disclosed is an apparatus and method of preparing synthetic fuel using natural gas extracted from a stranded gas field on land or at sea as a raw material through a compact GTL process or a GTL-FPSO process. A parallel-type gas purification unit for controlling a molar ratio of synthetic gas and a concentration of carbon dioxide in the synthetic gas, in which a CO.sub.2 separation device and a bypass unit are disposed in parallel, is provided and, thus, the gas purification unit may prepare the synthetic gas by a steam carbon dioxide reforming (SCR) reaction using natural gas having different CO.sub.2 contents of various stranded gas fields and then supply the synthetic gas having an optimum composition suitable for a Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.

A reactor for hydrocarbon production that separates wax reaction products from lightweight gaseous reaction products. The reactor has a housing, a catalyst bed, a product recovery zone, and a stripping zone. The catalyst bed can be provided in multi-tubular and other fixed bed configurations. The stripping zone receives light-weight gas reaction products from the product recovery zone, while a gas outlet of the housing receives non-lightweight gaseous hydrocarbon reaction products from the product recovery zone. A wax outlet of the housing receives wax products from the product recovery zone.

A reactor, which includes a reactor body and two reactor ends sealing the ends of the reactor body, a plurality of reactor tubes extending inside the reactor body at least partially between the reactor ends, and at least one heat pipe disposed inside at least one of the reactor tubes.