Characterization of Co/γ-Al2O3 catalysts with different Ru loading and their performances for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

Alumina supported cobalt catalysts promoted with ruthenium were prepared by co-impregnation method and its effect on the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis was investigated in a fixed bed reactor. The catalysts were characterized by temperature programmed reduction (TPR). The selected ruthenium loadings were 0.15, 0.3 and 0.6 wt% while the loading of cobalt was 15.0 wt% for all the prepared samples. Addition of a small amount of ruthenium promoter to Co/Al2O3 lowered both steps of the cobalt reduction temperature by about 100oC . The prepared catalysts show a considerable increase in CO conversion, i.e. from 10.5% to 21.1%, with the increase of ruthenium content from 0.0% to 0.30 wt. %. However, further increase in ruthenium content led to lower CO conversion, i.e. 10.2% for a Ru loading of 0.6 wt.%. Interestingly, the presence of ruthenium promoter does not change the C5+ selectivity considerably. Thus, the amount of ruthenium in Co/Al2O3 for optimum activity in FT synthesis was found

Characterization of Co/γ-Al2O3 catalysts with different Ru loading and their performances for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis Keywords:

Fischer , Tropsch synthesis , Co , Ru/γ-Al2O3 catalyst , promoter , operating parameters , optimum activity