Studies on product distribution of nanostructured iron catalyst in Fischer–Tropsch synthesis: Effect of catalyst particle size

Abstract

The dependencies of hydrocarbon product distributions of Fischer–Tropsch synthesis by iron catalysts on catalysts particle size are studied. The concept of two superimposed Anderson–Schulz–Flory distributions applied for represent size dependency of product distributions. A series of catalysts with different particle size are prepared by microemulsion method. It is found that the carbon number of produced hydrocarbon decreased with decreasing the catalyst particle size. These results indicate the H2 concentration on catalyst surface decreased by increasing the catalyst particle size. Thus the concentration of monomers that exhibited higher degree of hydrogenation (like CH2 species) on the surface of catalyst increased with decreasing the catalyst particle size.