Isothermal Kinetics Modelling of the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis over the Spray-Dried Fe-Cu-K Catalyst

The isothermal kinetics of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) over Fe-Cu-K spray-dried catalyst was studied in a spinning basket reactor. The experiments were carried out at a constant temperature of 523 K, n(H2)/n(CO) feed ratios of 0.8–2.0, reactor pressures of 1.1–2.5 MPa, and space velocity of 0.556×10−3 Nm3/kgcat·s. Kinetic model for hydrocarbon formation was derived on the basis of simplified carbide mechanism to reduce the number of parameters. Two individual rate constants for methane and ethene were considered. Furthermore, the model was modified empirically by non-intrinsic effect, such as physisorption and fictitious olefin pressures that were taken into account, and the influences of secondary reaction of α-olefins on product distribution. The simulation results showed that the experimental phenomena of FTS and the deviations from ASF distribution, such as the relatively high yield of methane and low yield of ethene observed experimentally could be depicted basically.