Natural gas conversion to liquid fuels in a zone reactor

A process for conversion of natural gas to liquid fuels is described. The process can be conducted in a "zone reactor" in which oxygen or air is first contacted with solid metal bromide, producing bromine and metal oxide. The bromine passes into a second zone, in which it reacts with natural gas, producing alkyl bromides and hydrogen bromide. The products of the second zone pass into a third zone, in which they react with metal oxide, producing metal bromide and liquid product. At the end of the cycle the oxygen feed and product streams are switched and the flow reversed. The advantages of the process including safety and capital cost reduction are presented and results discussed. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.