Sodium-Containing Spinel Zinc Ferrite as a Catalyst Precursor for the Selective Synthesis of Liquid Hydrocarbon Fuels.

A microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis produces ZnFe O containing Na residue as a precursor to a CO hydrogenation catalyst that displays high CO conversion and high selectivity to liquid hydrocarbon products in the gasoline and diesel range with high olefin-to-paraffin ratios. Compared to reference catalysts derived from Fe O and a ZnO-Fe O physical mixture, the ZnFe O -derived catalyst contains well-dispersed iron particles with Zn serving as a structural promoter. A profound effect of the residual Na as an electronic promoter is also observed, which improves the selectivity for C hydrocarbons and olefins. The ZnFe O -derived catalyst exhibits excellent performance in the CO Fischer-Tropsch reaction as it forms the active Hägg iron carbide (χ-Fe C ) phase readily through the in situ carburization of iron.