Kinetics studies of nano-structured cobalt–manganese oxide catalysts in Fischer–Tropsch synthesis

The nano-structured cobalt/manganese oxide catalyst was prepared by thermal decomposition of [Co(NH3)4CO3]MnO4 precursor, and was tested for the Fischer–Tropsch reaction (hydrocarbon forming) in a fixed-bed micro-reactor. Experimental conditions were varied as follow: reaction pressure 1–10 bar, H2/CO feed ratio of 1–2 and space velocity of 3600 h−1 at the temperature range of 463.15–523.15 K. On the basis of carbide and/or enolic mechanisms and Langmuir–Hinshelwood–Hougen–Watson (LHHW) type rate equations, 30 kinetic expressions for CO consumption were tested and interaction between adsorption HCO and dissociated adsorption hydrogen as the controlling step gave the most plausible kinetic model. The kinetic parameters were estimated with non-linear regression method and the activation energy was 80.63 kJ/mol for optimal kinetic model. Kinetic results indicated that in Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) rate expression, the rate constant (k) has been increased by decreasing the catalyst particle size. The catalyst characterization was carried out using different methods including powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area measurements.