BASF in Fischer-Tropsch catalyst advance

Ludwigshafen, Germany - The high prices of naphtha feedstock for steam crackers are prompting the chemical industry to re-evaluate alternative approaches to securing raw material supplies. One long-known process is the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis for the industrial-scale conversion of synthesis gas - carbon monoxide and hydrogen - into hydrocarbons.

Scientists at BASF's Catalysis Research unit in Ludwigshafen have developed a catalyst for the F-T process that allows the dedicated production of olefins -a process technology development which, said BASF, is scheduled for completion by the middle of the next decade.

"The use of synthesis gas will offer us the possibility of broadening our raw material base in future," said Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer, research executive director at BASF. "This is because synthesis gas can be obtained both from the fossil raw materials oil, gas and coal and from renew-able resources."

This flexibility in terms of the raw material used but  also the products synthesised makes the successful further development of the F-T synthesis an interesting alternative to cracker technology, partiularly at today's prices for naphtha, according to a company statement.

BASF researchers will next employ miniplant technology to establish the optimal reaction conditions and establish how the catalyst behaves under production conditions. Development activities, noted BASF, have so far focused on how to significantly increase selectivity for the production of olefins with two to four carbon atoms. 

"The development of the new heterogeneous catalyst is so far advanced that we can now begin customising the corresponding process," said Professor Dr. Rainer Diercks, head of BASF's Competence Center Chemicals Research and Engineering and spokesman of the group's Growth Cluster Raw Material Change. "Our researchers have already achieved con-siderable successes in only two years after the project launch in mid 2006," commented Diercks.