A b s t r a c t
The reactor of choice for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is a slurry bubble column. One of the few disadvantages ofbubble columns is the difficulties associated with their scale-up. The latter is due to complex phases’ interactionsand significant back-mixing.For a proper scaling dimensionless numbers should be kept constant in the various scales in order to ensure bothdynamic and geometrical similarity. With the complex nature of the flow in these systems, this becomes very hardto achieve. Hence, innovative approaches to provide a firm scale-up methodology are needed.Controlling the effect of scale using heat exchanging internals by means of reactor compartmentalization is pro-posed in this study. Preliminary results show that radial gas holdup profiles as well as other bubble dynamics insidethe compartments exhibited similar behavior as inside a solid wall column, since the comparison between the singletube bundle compartment and data obtained in 6 inches steel bubble column shows good match.