Cobalt Loading Effects on the Structure and Activity for Fischer-Tropsch and Water-Gas Shift Reactions of Co/Al2O3 Catalysts

Abstract

<em>An extensive study of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) on alumina-supported cobalt catalysts with different amounts of cobalt is reported. Up to 40 wt % of cobalt, is added to the catalysts by impregnation method. The effect of the cobalt loading on the reducibility of the cobalt oxide species, dispersion of the cobalt, average clusters size, water-gas shift (WGS) activity and activity and selectivity of FTSis investigated. Increasing the cobalt loading resulted in increasing the average cobalt cluster size, improvements in the reducibility of Co₃O_4,decreasing the cobalt surface interaction with the support and decreasing the dispersion of cobalt. The maximum concentration of active surface Co^o sites and FTS activity are achieved for the 34 wt% cobalt loading. While the maximum WGS activity is achieved for the 40 wt % cobalt loading. The methane selectivity in the catalyst with 40 wt % of cobalt loading was about 43.7 % less compared to that of the less reducible 8 wt % cobalt catalyst. The C₅⁺ selectivity for the 40 wt % cobalt catalyst was 60.8% higher than that of the 8 wt % Cobalt catalyst.</em>