100 Years of Fischer-Tropsch: Article on the Mülheim Patent in Nature

Ferdi Schüth looks back at the history of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and ahead to its future

About 100 years ago, the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis was developed, a major achievement of the Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung. In an article for the journal Nature, Prof. Ferdi Schüth explores the history and future of this process, which converts synthesis gas into liquid hydrocarbons.

It has been exactly 100 years since the first publication on the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis appeared—one of the most famous achievements of the scientists at the Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung, and one of the most important processes in the chemical and petrochemical industries. Prof. Ferdi Schüth, Director at the MPI, has now taken a look at the history—and the future—of the Fischer-Tropsch process for the journal Nature.

The Fischer-Tropsch synthesis was discovered in 1925 by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch. That same year, the two filed their patent, which was not granted until 1929. To secure their scientific work as their intellectual property, they published their findings in 1926 in the journal “Brennstoff-Chemie.”

The Fischer-Tropsch synthesis enables the conversion of synthesis gas into liquid or solid hydrocarbons, such as fuels and waxes. Synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, was originally produced from coal, but it can be made from any carbon-containing compound, making the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis an extremely versatile process that can also utilize sustainable carbon sources.

During World War II, the process covered a significant portion of Germany’s fuel needs. After the war, cheap crude oil largely supplanted the technology—except in South Africa, where SASOL continued to use the process during the apartheid era to produce liquid fuels made from coal despite embargoes. Since the 1990s, FT has also been applied to natural gas, e.g., in Indonesia and Qatar. China continues to operate coal-based FT plants as well.

“Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is gaining new relevance today in the context of sustainable fuels,” explains Ferdi Schüth. If the synthesis gas comes from biomass, waste, or even CO₂ captured from the atmosphere, the carbon footprint could be significantly reduced. Synthetic aviation fuels based on the Fischer-Tropsch process already exist. “And we can certainly expect further significant developments regarding this Mülheim-based technology in the future,” Schüth says.