Aqueous separation of syngas components

A process comprising the following steps:

• (a) forming a syngas which contains at least about 2 vol % CO2 in a syngas generator;
• (b) reacting at least a portion of the syngas in a Fischer-Tropsch process to form a product stream comprising hydrocarbonaceous products and a tail gas containing unreacted syngas and CO2;
• (c) contacting at least a portion of the unreacted syngas and CO2 with an aqueous medium having a pH above about 7.0 in a scrubbing zone at above atmospheric pressure to preferentially absorb at least part of the CO2 and recovering a CO2-enriched aqueous stream, and a syngas with a reduced CO2 concentration;
• (d) recycling at least part of the syngas from step (c) to the Fischer-Tropsch process;
• (e) desorbing the CO2-enriched aqueous stream from step (c) to obtain a CO2-rich gas and a CO2-depleted aqueous stream;
• and
• (f) circulating the CO2-depleted aqueous stream to the scrubber in step (c).

A process for manufacture of products from syngas comprising:

• (a) forming a syngas which contains CO2 in a syngas generator;
• (b) contacting at least a portion of the syngas with an aqueous medium having a pH above about 7.0 in a scrubbing zone at above atmospheric pressure to remove at least a portion of the CO2 and recovering a CO2-enriched aqueous stream and syngas with a lower CO2 concentration than the syngas obtained in step (a);
• (c) reacting at least a portion of the syngas obtained in step (b) in a syngas conversion reaction to form a product stream comprising hydrocarbonaceous products and a tail gas containing CO2 and unreacted syngas;
• (d) desorbing at above atmospheric pressure at least part of the CO2 in the CO2-enriched aqueous stream from step (b) to obtain a CO2-rich gas and CO2-depleted aqueous stream;
• (e) forwarding at least part of the CO2-rich gas to the syngas generator;
• (f) recycling at least part of the tail gas from step (c) to the syngas conversion reactor;
• and
• (g) dissolving at least part of the CO2-rich gas in an aqueous medium.