The development of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) process is particularly important as it’s estimated that within future decades crude oil reserves will expire and an alternative method to produce hydrocarbons will be required. Whereas it is acknowledged that iron-based FTS catalysts go through an ‘evolutionary’ phase during the early stages of the reaction, including the reduction of iron oxides and the formation of iron carbides, little is known on the role of hydrogeneous species. Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) can provide information on how hydrogen is partitioned within the catalyst matrix. Recent INS investigations of iron-based FTS catalysts have employed CO hydrogenation as a test reaction and establish a role for formation of a hydrocarbonaceous overlayer that is proposed to play a role in the economically relevant process chemistry.<br/><br/>This presentation will primarily INS, as well as other characterisation techniques such as temperature programmed oxidation (TPO), to probe an unpromoted high surface area iron FTS catalyst after exposure to CO hydrogenation conditions for extended periods of time-on-stream. This novel set of measurements reveal different aspects of the complex catalyst evolutionary process to be indirectly connected with catalytic turnover.

Hydrogen partitioning as a function of time-on-stream for an unpromoted iron-based Fischer–Tropsch synthesis catalyst applied to CO hydrogenation

ACS Spring 2022

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