Fischer-Tropsch Catalysis: Fundamentals and Practice

A Three-Day Short Course

July 26-28, 2011, BYU Campus, Provo, Utah

Instructors: Professors Calvin H. Bartholomew,

William C. Hecker, and Morris D. Argyle

Short Course Packages, Dates, and Tuition:

Package	Dates	Tuition^a
A. Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis: Fundamentals and Practice (including a substantial introduction to fundamentals of heterogeneous catalysis)	July 26-28	$1,800
B. First day, Fundamentals of Catalysis^b	July 26	$700
C. Day 2 & 3, Fischer-Tropsch Catalysis^c	July 27-28	$1,300

a. Tuition for professionals as shown; academic discounts of 30, 40, and 50% for faculty, post doctoral fellows and students respectively. Tuition includes lunch and course barbeque.

b. Package B is intended for attendees desiring only an introduction or review of the fundamentals of catalytic science.

c. Package C is intended only for attendees already highly trained, experienced and current in the fundamentals of heterogeneous catalysis and desiring training in the fundamentals and applications of FTS only.

Course Description: An introductory three-day course which combines the basics of catalysis with the science and technology of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS); designed for engineers and scientists (B.S., M.S. or Ph.D. levels) with previous experience and training in chemistry and materials but little or only modest experience in heterogeneous catalysis and FTS. Lectures during the first day will emphasize more general fundamentals of catalysis and kinetics; lectures on the following two days will focus on fundamentals and practice of FTS.

Students will (1) participate in lectures, discussions, and reviews; (2) receive chapters from the leading textbook on fundamentals and practice of catalysis and a set of comprehensive lecture notes with Excel spreadsheets illustrating important calculations; and (3) be given training that will help them become well-grounded in fundamental aspects of heterogeneous catalysis important in FT catalyst design, preparation, characterization and testing.

Course Objectives:

1. Student will gain a basic knowledge of kinetics, adsorption, catalytic surface reactions, pore diffusion, mass transfer and their applications to heterogeneous catalytic processes.

2. Student will become familiar with catalytic materials and methods and tools used to evaluate catalysts.

3. Student will learn the most important scientific and technological aspects of FT catalysis, including process chemistry, kinetics, mechanisms, catalyst design, catalyst deactivation, reactor design and process design.

4. Student will learn principles and state-of-the-art methods for characterizing and testing FT catalysts.

Course Topics, Day 1, Catalysis Fundamentals:

8:00 People and Course Introductions

8:15 Lecture 1: Introduction (CHB)

9:20 Lecture 2: Elementary steps and kinetic tools (WCH)

10:30 Break

10:45 Lecture 3: Adsorption: fundamentals, chemisorption (MDA)

12:00 Lunch

1:00 Lecture 4: Catalyst materials, properties, and preparation (CHB)

2:20 Lecture 5: Kinetics of surface reactions (MDA)

3:30 Break

3:45 Lecture 6: Pore diffusion in catalysts: principles, effects (WCH)

5:00 End of instruction for the day

Course Topics, Days 2 & 3, Fischer-Tropsch, Fundamentals and Practice

(4 lectures daily):

1. Introduction: brief history of FT synthesis, important developments in catalyst and process technologies; overview of coal- and natural-gas-based processes; the future of the growing GTL and renewables markets.

2. FTS reaction chemistry, selectivity models

11. FTS kinetics, mechanisms, and models

12. FT catalyst design: principles, approaches, promoters, supports, preparation

13. FT catalyst characterization and testing

14. FT catalyst deactivation and regeneration: problems, principles for prevention

15. FT reactor technologies, design, and modeling

16. FT process technologies, design, and economics

Course Materials:

1. C.H. Bartholomew and W.C. Hecker, Fischer-Tropsch Catalysis: Fundamentals and Practice, Course Notes, July 2011.

2. C.H. Bartholomew and R.J. Farrauto, Fundamentals of Industrial Catalytic Processes, 2^nd edition, John Wiley, 2006, Chapters 1 and 6, PDF Format, sent prior to course.

3. Spreadsheets of calculations, Excel format on jump drive.

Learning Format:

Daily learning activities will consist of six lectures during Day 1 and four lectures on Days 2 and 3, each followed by a 10-15 minute review and discussion; short breaks for refreshments and informal discussion will occur mid-morning and afternoon and post-lecture on Days 2 and 3. Our philosophy is that learning should be fun, and our courses have the reputation of being highly informative, stimulating, entertaining, and enjoyable.

Barbeque: A barbeque and hike will be held during the evening of Day 2 in the nearby mountains at either Aspen Grove or equivalent site in Provo Canyon. The nearby canyons are exceptionally spectacular and pleasantly cool during mid-summer.

Lodging: Courtyard by Marriott in Provo, Utah; specially discounted rates will be available in the range of $90-100/night. There are many exciting opportunities for site-seeing, hiking, and fishing the Utah mountains, Park City, Heber Valley and a half-dozen national parks or national monuments. You may wish to bring your family and stay over the weekend. One can also tour historic Salt Lake City and Temple Square or listen to the Sunday morning broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Fischer-Tropsch Course Instructors:

Calvin H. Bartholomew, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Brigham Young University (BYU) has taught courses at BYU on kinetics, materials, and catalyst deactivation during the past 35 years. He is an active researcher in heterogeneous catalysis and a recognized authority on catalyst deactivation (over 125 journal articles, 20 chapters, and 3 books). He is co-author with Dr. Robert Farrauto of Engelhard of Fundamentals of Industrial Catalytic Processes, a leading handbook and textbook on this subject. Together with Professor Bill Hecker, he has taught short courses on “Heterogeneous Catalysis” and “Catalyst Deactivation” to more than 600 professionals from industry and academe. Professor Bartholomew has worked at Corning Inc., UniCal, and Sandia National Labs and has consulted with more than 60 companies.

William C. Hecker, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at BYU has taught courses on kinetics, catalysis, air pollution control and heat/mass transfer since 1982 and has conducted research on automotive catalysts, NO reduction, and coal char catalysis. He also worked at Chevron, Dow Chemical, Exxon, and Occidental Research. He is presently Head of the BYU Catalysis Laboratory and Director of the BYU Fischer-Tropsch Consortium.

Morris D. Argyle, Associate Professor at BYU and Past Associate Professor and Department Head at University of Wyoming has also worked for 7+ years at ExxonMobil’s Baytown, Texas refinery in process design, operations support, coordination and economics, and as a technical and an operations supervisor. He has taught classes on material and energy balances, process simulation and economics, kinetics and chemical reaction engineering. His research focuses on structure/function relationships of heterogeneous catalysts using spectroscopic techniques.

Preliminary Registration and Contacts:

Enrollment will be limited to 30 participants. Given the current interest in Fischer-Tropsch and our experiences in 2006-2010 courses, the class could fill up within 4-6 weeks. If you are planning to attend, please notify Professor Calvin H. Bartholomew (calb@byu.edu), as soon as possible. Registration will be cut off on or before July 1. You can guarantee your enrollment by sending a preliminary registration fee in the form of a $600 check to Professor Calvin H. Bartholomew, Department of Chemical Engineering, 350 CB, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602.

Additional information will be updated soon at http://www2.et.byu.edu/~bartc/.