Pretreatment of Alumina and Its Influence on the Properties of Co/Alumina Catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

16.6%Co/γ-Al2O3 catalysts prepared by incipient wetness impregnation method were used for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The support was pre-treated with different concentration of NH4NO3 aqueous solution. The effect of support pre-treatment on the properties of support and performance of supported-cobalt-based catalysts was investigated. To treat the support with NH4NO3 aqueous solution enlarged the pore of γAl2O3, decreased the impurity Na2O content, and weakened the surface acidity of γAl2O3. The change in the properties of the support decreased the interaction between cobalt species and support, enhanced the CO hydrogenation rate and the C5+ selectivity. For all catalysts, increasing the reaction temperature increased the CO hydrogenation rate or the CO conversion, slightly decreased the total hydrocarbon selectivity, and favored the formation of methane and light hydrocarbons, while the chain growth probability decreased. For 16.6%Co/γAl2O3 catalysts, prepared with the support treated with 100 g/L NH4NO3 aqueous solution, the CO conversion, the CH4 selectivity, and the C5+ selectivity were 83.13%, 6.86% and 82.75% respectively, and the chain growth probability was 0.83 under the condition of 493 K, 1.5 MPa, 500 h−1 and the molar ratio of H2 to CO being 2.0 in feed.