Studies on Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis Over Co-Based Catalysts

Recently, Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) for the conversion of natural gas to liquid fuels has received much of interest because the reserves of crude oil are depleted and/or the price of crude rises. A few mechanisms to convert synthesis gas to transportation liquid fuels have been reported to date. Though more kinetic data for the iron-based catalyst is available, there is less information and understanding about the mechanism for the cobalt-based catalyst.

In the present study, the reaction kinetics for a slurry bed FTS over a cobalt-based catalyst at 210-250 °C, 1.5-2.5 MPa, H2/CO feed ratios of 1.3-3.0 were investigated. The cobalt (20%) supported silica catalyst was prepared by conventional incipient wetness impregnation method using cobalt nitrate and silica gel as support. Also the Physico-chemical properties were analyzed by XRD, TEM, N2 adsorption and by TPR method.

The kinetic parameters for the Fischer-Tropsch reaction were estimated for optimistically associating the different reaction rates with the reactor models from the literature.