Kinetic study of CO hydrogenation over co-precipitated iron–nickel catalyst

The kinetic of the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis over a Fe–Ni/Al2O3 catalyst was investigated in a fixed bed micro reactor. Experimental conditions were varied as follow: reaction pressure 2–10 bar, H2/CO feed ratio of 2/1 and space velocity of 96–450 cm3(STP)/h/gramcatalyst at the temperature range 523–573 K. On the basis of carbide-enol mechanism and Langmuir–Hinshelwood–Hougen–Watson (LHHW) type rate equations, seventeen kinetic expressions for CO consumption were tested and interaction between adsorption HCO and dissociated adsorption hydrogen as the controlling step gave the most plausible kinetic model. The activation energy was 46.5 kJ/mole for optimal kinetic model.