A hierarchically spherical Co-based zeolite catalyst with aggregated nanorods structure for improved Fischer–Tropsch synthesis reaction activity and isoparaffin selectivity

• The uniformly sized zeolite microspheres with 0.5–1 μm was synthesized successfully.
• C12+ selectivity was effectively suppressed in aggregated nanorods zeolite.
• Isoparaffin selectivity was obviously improved by hierarchical zeolite structure.
• The selectivity of the isoparaffin reached 30.9% with the hierarchically-structured catalyst.

A hierarchically spherical Co based zeolite catalyst with aggregated nanorods structure (simplified as Co/AN-Z) was prepared by an in-situ self-assembly crystallization route of Co/SBA-15 under hydrothermal synthesis environment. The obtained Co/AN-Z catalyst with uniformly sized zeolite microspheres with 0.5–1 μm was evaluated for improved Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) reaction activity and isoparaffin selectivity. The selectivities of isoparaffin and C5-11 hydrocarbons were higher with a narrower product distribution as well as CH4 and C12+ selectivities were lower on the Co/AN-Z catalyst than those on the commercial HZSM-5 supported Co catalyst (Co/HZSM-5) for FTS reaction. The demonstrated route of the hierarchically spherical Co based zeolite catalyst can be extended to synthesize bifunctional catalyst and expected to find a new approach for tandem reaction.

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