Effect of support and promoter on the catalytic performance and structural properties of the Fe–Co–Ni catalysts for CO hydrogenation

•The effects of different supports on the Fe–Co–Ni catalyst were investigated. It was found that the optimum support was MgO.•The effect of optimum support loading was investigated. It was found that the optimum support loading was 10% MgO.•Also, it was found that none of the used promoters could not improve the catalytic performance.

Co-precipitated Fe–Co–Ni catalysts were tested for production of light olefins via Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. The effects of different supports such as Al2O3, SiO2, TiO2 and MgO and subsequently the effect of optimum support loading and also the effect of different promoters including Li, Cs, K, Rb and Ru on the catalytic performance and structure of Fe–Co–Ni catalyst were investigated. It was found that the Fe–Co–Ni catalyst containing 10 wt% MgO has shown the better catalytic performance for FTS. The yield of methane, ethylene, propylene and C4+ olefins were calculated and reported. Characterization of the catalyst precursors and calcined samples was carried out using XRD, SEM, EDS and BET.

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