The Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process is gaining recognition again due to the world-wide increase in energy needs and decrease in oil availability. The increasing interest in utilizing biomass as a potential renewable feedstock in energy generation is further supporting this development.

The book Fischer-Tropsch Refining by Arno de Klerk, Professor of Catalytic Reaction Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada, covers the production and refining of Fischer-Tropsch syncrude to fuels and chemicals and deals with the related aspects of engineering, chemistry, and catalysis. The book is reviewed in ChemistryWorld by Malcolm Green, Emeritus Research Professor, University of Oxford, UK.

Green writes that the book is a timely, substantial, and scholarly work. The presentations are clearly written and there are many well-organised and effectively labelled diagrams and tables. There is considerable detail provided so this book will serve as a reference manual as well as an excellent guide to the subject as a whole.

He would strongly recommend this book to all who wish to become informed about the FT industry and its technology. It may well be the case that FT processes will play a dominant role in tomorrow’s energy sources.

• Read complete book review: Converting biomass,
  Malcolm Green,
  ChemistryWorld 2011, June, 63.
  Link
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  Fischer-Tropsch Refining,
  Arno de Klerk,
  Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany, 2011.
  ISBN: 9783527326051