Choosing the best diluent for a fixed catalytic bed: The case of CO hydrogenation

Fixed bed reactors are frequently used for many catalytic reactions, but the difficult to remove the reaction heat in highly exothermic reactions can bring to a bad performance of the catalyst or to its fast deactivation. A possible solution is to use diluents, i.e., inactive ceramic bodies, tailored to mix intimately with the catalyst without affecting the fluid flow through the catalyst bed. The influence of the use of diluent materials on Fischer–Tropsch synthesis catalyst activity is here fully discussed.