EFFECT OF METHANE FLOW VARIATION IN AN AUTOTHERMAL REFORMING REACTOR ON THE SYNGAS H₂/CO RATIO AND FISCHER–TROPSCH WAX PRODUCT SELECTIVITY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66960/jof.3093-8899.00030Keywords:
GTL technology, Autothermal Reforming (ATR) reactor, syngas, H₂/CO ratio, Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, synthetic wax, methane conversion, SimDist ASTM D7169, gas chromatography, product selectivityAbstract
This study investigates the effect of natural gas (methane) flow variation in the Autothermal Reforming (ATR) unit of the Uzbekistan GTL plant on syngas composition, particularly the H₂/CO ratio, and its influence on the selectivity of Fischer–Tropsch synthesis products. The changes in CO, H₂, and CO₂ concentrations under different levels of methane flow reduction were analyzed using theoretical calculations and real industrial process data. The relationships between process parameters were modeled using the Python programming environment.
The composition of synthetic wax products obtained from the Fischer–Tropsch process was evaluated using gas chromatographic analysis based on the Simulated Distillation (SimDist ASTM D7169) method. The results showed that instability in natural gas supply led to an increase in the H₂/CO ratio, resulting in a decrease in the yield of heavy paraffin fractions (C₂₀–C₈₀) and an increase in the proportion of light hydrocarbons and oxygen-containing compounds. In contrast, under stable methane flow conditions with an H₂/CO ratio maintained around 1.97, the formation of high-molecular-weight wax fractions was observed.
The findings demonstrate that continuous control of syngas composition and optimization of the methane-to-oxidant ratio are critical factors for controlling Fischer–Tropsch product selectivity and producing high-quality synthetic wax in GTL technology.
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Copyright © 2026 Umidjon Beshimov, Abduhamid Maxsumov, Shaxobiddin Jumayev, O‘tkirbek Azamatov, Eldor Mashayev
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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