A method for systematic reactor design, described by Hillestad [1], is applied to the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The reactor path is sectioned into stages and design functions are optimized to maximize an objective function. Two different objective functions are considered: the yield of wax and a measure of the profitability. With the chosen kinetic model [2] and the path temperature constrained by 240 degrees C, staging of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis based on the first criteria will increase the yield of wax. By introducing the cost of heat transfer area in the objective function, the total heat transfer area requirement of a two-stage reactor is significantly less than of a single-stage reactor.