Effect of calcination conditions on the structure and catalytic performance of MgO supported Fe–Co–Mn catalyst for CO hydrogenation

Abstract

The Fe–Co–Mn catalysts prepared using co-precipitation procedure, were tested for production of light olefins via Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. The effect of a range of calcination conditions such as calcination temperature, time and atmosphere on the structure and catalytic performance of MgO supported Fe–Co–Mn catalyst was investigated. It was found that the catalyst calcined at 600 °C for 6 h under air atmosphere has shown the best catalytic performance for CO hydrogenation. Characterization of catalyst precursors and calcined samples (fresh and used) was carried out using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) measurements, Temperature Programmed Reduction (TPR) and thermal analysis methods such as Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). It was observed that all of different investigated variables influenced the structure, morphology and catalytic performance of the catalysts.