1. General Status of Process.
The Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis had reached commercial realization long before the war. It had attracted considerable interest in the United States and finally patent rights were obtained by certain American companies. Late in 1938 a thorough exchange of information took place in Germany followed by an inspection of the plants. Thus all information available at that time may be considered in the American hands.
The greatest obstacle to a large scale development of the process was the poor quality of the gasoline it produced. With the beginning of the war only a short distance away, the Germans had to use other means to synthesize high quality fuels, such as high pressure hydrogenation, and in the same measure as hydrogenation capacity was increased, the expansion of Fischer-Tropsch was brought to a standstill. Thus we find, practically all Fischer-Tropsch plants completed and in operation before the war.
The main sponsor of the process, Ruhrchemie A.G. expended great effort to develop processes to improve the fuel quality of the primary product, by the fact was finally recognized that Fischer-Tropsch using cobalt catalyst primarily could be of value as the means to produce chemicals rather than fuels, with diesel oil a possible exception.
The first objective was the production of olefins and the subsequent conversion of the olefins to such products as synthetic lube oils or high boiling alcohols. The Germans succeeded in this development.
The next step would be the direct synthesis of more valuable compounds, such as high-boiling alcohols and esters. The work done in this connection is described in Section 2 of this report (Synol).
In the following chapter, information is presented regarding operation, production and cost of product from existing plants.