Studies on Cobalt-Based Catalyst to Synthesize Heavy Hydrocarbons

Abstract

With incipient impregnation method, cobalt-based catalysts were prepared. The effects of the ZrO2 modification of support and the addition of the second metal Ru on heavy hydrocarbon synthesis were investigated in a fixed-bed reactor. The results revealed that, in cobalt-based catalysts modified with ZrO2, cobalt species were presented in the form of Co3O4, Zr species were highly dispersed or amorphous on the surface of the catalysts. ZrO2 addition also increased the desorption amount of CO, which was correlative with the degree of reduction of cobalt species. When the catalysts modified with ZrO2, the strong interaction between Co species and γ-Al2O3 support was replaced by a weak interaction between Co species and ZrO2. The ZrO2 modification increased the amount of easily reducible Co species. It is noteworthy that addition of a small quantity of Ru promoted the reduction of cobalt species, which led to the reduction temperature decreasing. For the 15w%Co0.4w%Ru4.3w%ZrO2/γ-Al2O3, at a reaction condition as feed gas ratio n(H2):n(CO)=2.0, 483K, 1.5MPa and 800h-1, the conversion of CO was 76.98 %, the selectivity of C5+ 88.36 %, the chain growth probability 0.86, and as to 15.0%Co0.4%Ru/γ-Al2O3, the conversion of CO was 67.15%, the selectivity of C5+ 84.41% and the chain growth probability 0.84.