Fischer–Tropsch study over impregnated silica-supported cobalt–iron nanocatalyst

Fischer–Tropsch reaction was carried out over the impregnated 60 %Co/40 %Fe/90wt%SiO2/1.5wt%K catalyst in a fixed-bed micro-reactor over a range of operating conditions. Reaction rate expression on the basis of the Langmuir–Hinshelwood–Hougen–Watson type models for the FT reactions was derived. Here seven kinetic expressions for CO consumption were proposed, and interaction between adsorption CO and dissociated adsorption hydrogen as the controlling step gave the most conceivable kinetic model. According to one factor at a time method, the product distributions in FT synthesis are found to be strongly influenced by temperature and pressure, and maximum hydrocarbon selectivity C2–C3 light olefins are obtained at 260 °C and 8 bar. The activation energy for CO consumption is calculated as 106.2 kJ mol−1.