Greener biofuel

The company’s metal carbide Fischer-Tropsch (FT) catalyst is designed for use in small-scale FT microchannel reactors, which are used to make fuel from biomass.

The catalyst was produced using Oxford Catalysts' patented organic matrix combustion (OMX) method, which allows crystals to be made of the right size to provide the optimum level of activity in a microchannel reactor.

The FT reaction is a key technology for producing second-generation biofuels from agricultural waste.

Because it takes one ton of biomass to produce one barrel of liquid fuel, small-scale FT reactors are being developed to convert the waste on a distributed basis locally rather than at large collection centres.

Microchannel reactors are potential candidates for this job because they enable more efficient and precise temperature control, leading to higher throughput and conversion. They are also able to dissipate the heat produced from the FT reaction more quickly than conventional systems.