Innovation UK > News > Innovation News > Waste-to-fuel reactor wins 2010 industry award

A Fischer Tropsch (FT) microchannel reactor developed by Velocys, Inc. combined with a new highly active FT catalyst developed by Oxford Catalysts has been named as the winner of the CWC World XTL award 2010.

This new type of reactor converts waste materials into liquid fuels.

The microchannel reactor developed by Velocys, an Ohio-based subsidiary of the UK?s  Oxford Catalysts, is designed to provide a small-scale but high-intensity way to produce liquid fuels from waste, including municipal waste, that?s close to the waste source. In that way, waste can be converted to productive use without having to transport it long distances, which could remove the environmental benefits of the fuel production process.

The Velocys reactor can achieve productivity levels that are orders of magnitude higher than those of the conventional Fischer-Tropsch process that uses chemical reactions to convert hydrogen and carbon monoxide into liquid hydrocarbons. The reactor can also operate economically at outputs as low as 500 barrels of liquid fuel per day.

A demonstration plant that will use the Velocys reactor to convert gasified wood-chips into fuel is currently being commissioned in Güssing, Austria.

Richard Scrase