Effect of Properties of Various Activated-Carbon Supports and Supported Fe−Mo−Cu−K Catalysts on Metal Precursor Distribution, Metal Reduction, and Fischer−Tropsch Synthesis

Abstract

The physical and surface chemistry properties of four activated carbons (ACs) have been studied, and the effects of these properties on the distribution and reduction of metal precursors of Fischer−Tropsch (FT) catalysts have been noted. The four ACs used have been derived from peat, generic wood, pecan, and walnut. The catalysts used are Fe with Mo−Cu−K additives, supported on the various ACs, successfully used earlier for selective production of C1−C34 hydrocarbons. Characterization techniques used include Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS), surface pH, temperature-programmed desorption−mass spectrometry (TPD−MS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and temperature-programmed reduction (TPR). The BET and SEM results show that the four ACs have similar overall pore-size distributions qualitatively. All ACs contain 75−94% micropores. The four ACs differ considerably in their surface morphology, surface area, and amounts of micro-, mes...