Alcohol Synthesis via Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis over Activated Carbon Supported Alkaline Earth Modified Cobalt Catalyst

Although numerous efforts have been made in direct syngas conversion to higher alcohols via Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, the higher alcohols distribution remains a challenge. Here, we introduce alkaline earth metal oxide as promoter into activated carbon supported cobalt catalyst to tune distribution of higher alcohols. With the addition of Mg, the distribution of C 2-5 alcohols increase from 41.2 to 75.8% accompanying with distribution of C 6-18 alcohols decrease from 52.8 to 14.0%. Ba-promoted Co based catalyst (CoBa/AC) presents similar alcohols distribution to un-promoted catalyst, while the alcohol selectivity over CoBa/AC is higher than Co/AC. For promoted catalysts, the distribution of C 6-18 alcohols increased in the order of Mg