One of the foremost technical challenges to the successful, economical practice of Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS), as with most catalytic processes, is catalyst life and activity. Our goal is to develop a rate model for the main reaction and for the deactivation which predicts the deactivation of Co FT catalysts by carbon deposition as a function of reactant partial pressures and temperature. Activity of the catalyst increases with increasing PH2 and the H2 order becomes more positive as temperature increases, while CO order changes from a positive value of 0.31 at 210°C to a negative value of -0.64 at 240°C. A realistic sequence of elementary steps which includes hydrogen-assisted dissociation of adsorbed CO and a parallel step which leads to carbon on the surface was used to derive a three-parameter kinetic model. Activity-time data obtained in eight experiments were regressed to a general-power-low deactivation model using optimal values of a∞. Deactivation rate increases with increasing CO and H2 partial pressures.

Kinetics of main reaction and deactivation by carbon of cobalt Fischer-Tropsch catalyst

249th National Meeting (2015)

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