Fischer-Tropsch process in a three-phase system over iron-cobalt catalyst nanoparticles in situ synthesized in a hydrocarbon medium

It has been shown that Fe-Co nanocatalysts in situ synthesized in a hydrocarbon medium with a Fe/Co weight ratio of 2–6 can mediate the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis in a three-phase system at a pressure of 20 atm, a temperature of 250–300°C, and a CO/H 2 ratio of 1: 1. The introduction of CO leads to a significant increase in the total activity of the catalyst system ( K CO reaches 85% at 300°C). However, gas evolution is enhanced and the highest yield of liquid products is as low as 74 g/m 3 in this case. The introduction of K and Al into the Fe-Co catalysts and the optimization of the Fe/Co ratio make it possible to increase the yield of liquid products to 143 g/m 3 (Fe/Co = 2.4) and achieve an efficiency of 337 g/(kg Me h). The Fe-Co nanocatalysts exhibit a high polymerizing activity (Schulz-Flory alpha is higher than 0.8). Hydrocarbons obtained over Fe-Co-K-Al catalysts contain more than 20% olefins. Their amount increases with the increasing Fe concentration in the sample. Oxygenates formed over these catalysts are composed of alcohols by over 90%, of which ethanol prevails (65–70%).