The high price of naphtha as a feedstock for steam crackers is prompting the chemical industry to re-evaluate alternative approaches to securing raw material supplies. One long-known process is the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for the industrial-scale conversion of synthesis gas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen) into hydrocarbons and is an alternative method to using naphtha in steam crackers. Research scientists at BASF�s Ludwigshafen research center in Germany have developed a process of converting a mixture of carbon monoxide along with hydrogen (called synthesis gas) directly to hydrocarbons using a special catalyst system. The scientists have developed the catalyst for use in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, a process for the industrial-scale conversion of synthesis gas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen) into hydrocarbons. The catalyst is the first step in its development of process technology which is scheduled for completion by the middle of the next decade (around 2015).
The use of synthesis gas will widen raw material base in future. This is because synthesis gas can be obtained both from the fossil raw materials oil, gas and coal and from renewable resources. Under a high price scenario the new process could become more cost effective. The next stage of the project involves mini plant technology to help establish the optimal reaction conditions and how the catalyst behaves under production conditions.
With the aid of miniplant technology, the experts will establish the optimal reaction conditions and how the catalyst behaves under production conditions. Development activities have so far focused on how to significantly increase selectivity for the production of olefins with two to four carbon atoms.
For the period 2006 to 2008, BASF had allocated altogether about �100 million for research activities in the Growth Cluster Raw Material Change. The scientists are addressing the entire range of options available for supplementing the crude oil product naphtha with other raw materials for the various value chains. BASF sees these options not only in the increased use of renewable resources but especially of natural gas and, over the longer term, also of coal. Process innovations allowing the utilization of the alternative carbon sources will be vital for the stepwise implementation of raw material change. |
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