A quantitative theoretical treatment of the fischer tropsch synthesis

A generalized scheme for product distribution in Fischer Tropsch synthesis in the absence of non‐kinetic effects due to diffusion, shape selectivity, catalyst bifunctionality (e.g. synthesis‐cracking catalysts), etc. is presented. The derivations reproduce the Schulz‐Flory distribution in one limit and go on to generalize the work of Anderson in predicting the distribution of methylated species in the synthesis product. Formulae for molar distributions, weight distributions and weight distribution modes are presented. It is shown that special cases of the generalized distributions lead to methanol production or methanation as well as predicting other, as yet unreported, product compositions.