The hydrogenation of CO, also known as the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FT), is an important catalytic reaction as it is one of the most interesting alternatives to producing fine chemical feedstocks or fuels while avoiding the use of fossil sources. The ability to tune the selectivity of the FT synthesis is a paramount challenge both environmentally and economically. We are reporting here the changes in activity and product selectivity in FT synthesis for a variety of bimetallic systems. Colloidal chemistry is used to prepare size controlled, model nanoparticle catalysts of varying bimetallic compositions. The use of colloidal chemistry allows for a well defined atomic composition, and STEM/EDS measurements (as in Figure 1) confirm both ensemble and single-particle compositions. Figure 1 displays the same region showing: a) Co K-edge mapping, b) Cu K-edge mapping, c) combined Co and Cu, d) TEM image. CoMx (M = Mn, Rh, Re, Cu; 0 &lt; x &lt; 1) systems have been successfully synthesized and tested. These model catalysts were run under reaction conditions of H2:CO = 2:1 at 20 bar and 30sccm total flow rate. The temperature was varied from 190-250˚C. All catalysts were aged under reaction conditions for 24 hours prior to the acquisition of catalytically relevant data. Current work is focused on the characterization of these catalysts using various in-situ methods.

Reaction study of model bimetallic CoMx catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

249th National Meeting (2015)

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