(621dq) Effects of Preparation and Pretreatment Conditions on the Performance of Fe-Mn Catalysts for FT Synthesis

Effects of preparation and pretreatment conditions on the performance of Fe-Mn catalysts for FT synthesis

Weibo Gong¹, Maohong Fan ^1,*

Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA

Corresponding Author Email: mfan@uwyo.edu (M. Fan), Tel.: +1 307 766 5633; fax: +1 307 766 6777.

Abstract: The effects of [Fe]/[Mn] molar ratios, preparation conditions, calcination conditions and reduction conditions on the performance of Fe-Mn catalysts for FT synthesis were investigated. Co-precipitation method was employed to prepare the Fe-Mn catalysts, and the effects of different preparation conditions including precipitation pH, temperature, and stabilizer on the catalyst structure and activity were evaluated. The optimal pretreatment conditions have been found for the conversion of syngas to hydrocarbons. The test results show that the catalysts with [Fe]/[Mn] molar ratios being about  5:1 and precipitation at pH 9.7 have  better  performance after the pretreatment at the optimal conditions. Characterizations of catalysts were carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature program reduction (TPR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis.