Velocys Releases AlphaCore™ 800 Reactor for Larger-Scale SAF and E-Fuels Projects

(Houston, Texas & Oxford, England) Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technology licensor for sustainable fuels Velocys announced today (Sept. 21) the release of its new AlphaCore™ 800 reactor, which is the company’s highest capacity microchannel reactor to date, designed to produce up to 800 barrels per day, or 30,000 tonnes per year (30 kt/a), of FT fluids from a single reactor.

Image of Velocys’ reactor portfolio, featuring its new AlphaCore 800™, courtesy of Velocys.

Per Velocys, AlphaCore 800 is designed particularly for larger sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and e-fuels projects, including SAF plants targeting approximately 100,000 tonnes per year and above.

For context: AlphaCore 800 doubles the capacity of AlphaCore 400 and extends Velocys’ throughput-based AlphaCore reactor family from approximately 50 to 800 barrels per day per reactor (from 2 to 30 kt/a per reactor), according to today’s press release from Velocys.

AlphaCore 800 joins AlphaCore 50, 200 and 400 in the Velocys reactor portfolio, giving project developers a throughput-based product range built with the same core technology that can be applied across multiple project scales and syngas pathways, according to Velocys.

Velocys explains the benefits from expanding reactor size while preserving the underlying chemistry and design of its reactors as follows:

• providing more FT capacity per reactor, which enables fewer reactors as project scale increases without sacrificing performance or reliability;
• reducing reactor count can also
  • simplify the FT island,
  • reduce associated equipment requirements and
  • lower FT unit cost

As an example, Velocys explains that Fischer-Tropsch plant requiring approximately 1,600 barrels per day (60 kt/a) of FT liquids could be configured with two AlphaCore 800 reactors — reducing total reactor count by 75% compared to an FT unit utilizing eight AlphaCore 200 reactors while maintaining the same FT liquids capacity.

"Customers are asking us to bring our microchannel FT technology into larger projects with simpler configurations," said Matthew Viergutz, CEO of Velocys. "AlphaCore 800 is a direct response. As SAF projects move toward 100,000 tonnes per year and beyond, we are increasing capacity per reactor so developers can configure larger FT plants with fewer units while building on the technology platform and operating experience of Velocys."