Nanocrystalline Ferrihydrite-Based Catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis: Part II. Effects of Activation Gases on the Catalytic Performance.

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) was carried out over nanocrystalline ferrihydrite-based (Fe9O2(OH)23) catalysts activated by different reducing agents: syngas (H2+CO), CO, and H2. The syngas activation successfully changed the ferrihydrite-based catalysts into an active and stable catalytic structure with chi-carbide (Fe2.5 C) and epsilon'-carbide (Fe2.2 C). The crystal structure of the catalysts obtained by syngas activation was similar to the structure obtained by CO activation; this similarity was probably due to the peculiar reduction behavior of the ferrihydrite-based catalysts, which exhibit much greater reducibility in CO atmosphere than in H2 atmosphere. The performance of the catalysts activated by syngas was much higher than the performance of the catalysts activated by H2 and was comparable to the performance of the catalysts activated by CO. This strongly demonstrates that the ferrihydrite-based catalysts are advantageous for industrial FTS processes because syngas can be commonly used for both activation pre-treatment and subsequent reaction.