Activation pressure studies with an iron-based catalyst for slurry Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) was carried out with an industrial iron-based catalyst (100Fe/5Cu/6K/16SiO2, by weight) under the baseline conditions in a stirred tank slurry reactor (STSR). The effects of activation pressure on the catalyst activity and selectivity were investigated. It was found that iron phase compositions, textural properties, and FTS performances of the catalysts were strongly dependent on activation pressure. The high activation pressure retards the carburization. Møssbauer effect spectroscopy (MES) results indicated that the contents of the iron carbides clearly decrease with the increase of activation pressure, especially for the activation pressure increasing from 1.0 MPa to 1.5 MPa, and the reverse trend is observed for superparamagnetic Fe3+ (spm). The higher content of Fe3+ (spm) results in the higher amount of CO2 in tail gas when the catalyst is reduced at higher pressure. The catalyst activity decreases with the increase of activation pressure. The high quantity of iron carbides is necessary to obtain high FTS activity. However, the activity of the catalyst activated in syngas can not be predicted solely from the fraction of the carbides. It is concluded that activation with syngas at the lower pressure would be the most desirable for the better activity and stability on the iron-based catalyst.