Two different iron carbides, H�gg (?-Fe5C2) and cementite (?-Fe3C) for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) was investigated. Both iron carbides were oxidized to Fe3O4 ?during FTS. H�gg carbide (?-Fe5C2), initially exhibits higher FT and WGS activity compared to cementite (?-Fe3C) under similar reaction conditions. However, H�gg carbide deactivates much faster rate than cementite and their FT activity was levels-off after a certain period on FTS. Under similar level of CO conversion, H�gg carbide exhibits slightly higher methane selectivity compared to cementite. The ratio of FT to WGS selectivity for H�gg carbide increases with increasing time-on-stream and it remains more or less the same over cementite. The observed FT and WGS activity correlate to the % carbide content of iron on used FT catalyst which indicates that carbide is the active form of Fe for both FT and WGS reaction.

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis: Activity and selectivity of ?-Fe5C2 and ?-Fe3C carbides

248th National Meeting (2014)

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