Synthesis of stable and low-CO2 selective ε-iron carbide Fischer-Tropsch catalysts

Peng Wang; Wei Chen; Fu-Kuo Chiang; A Iulian Dugulan; Yuanjun Song; Robert Pestman; Kui Zhang; Jinsong Yao; Bo Feng; Ping Miao; Wayne Xu; Emiel J M Hensen

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aau2947

Synthesis of stable and low-CO₂ selective ε-iron carbide Fischer-Tropsch catalysts

Sci Adv. 2018 Oct 12;4(10):eaau2947. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aau2947. eCollection 2018 Oct.

Authors

Peng Wang^{1

2}, Wei Chen², Fu-Kuo Chiang¹, A Iulian Dugulan³, Yuanjun Song⁴, Robert Pestman², Kui Zhang¹, Jinsong Yao¹, Bo Feng¹, Ping Miao¹, Wayne Xu¹, Emiel J M Hensen²

Affiliations

¹ National Institute of Clean-and-Low-Carbon Energy, Shenhua NICE, Future Science and Technology City, Changping District, Beijing 102211, People's Republic of China.
² Laboratory of Inorganic Materials Chemistry, Schuit Institute of Catalysis, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands.
³ Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energy Group, Delft University of Technology, 2629 JB Delft, Netherlands.
⁴ Beijing Key Laboratory for Magneto-Photoelectrical Composite and Interface Science, School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

The Fe-catalyzed Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reaction constitutes the core of the coal-to-liquids (CTL) process, which converts coal into liquid fuels. Conventional Fe-based catalysts typically convert 30% of the CO feed to CO₂ in the FT unit. Decreasing the CO₂ release in the FT step will reduce costs and enhance productivity of the overall process. In this context, we synthesize phase-pure ε(')-Fe₂C catalysts exhibiting low CO₂ selectivity by carefully controlling the pretreatment and carburization conditions. Kinetic data reveal that liquid fuels can be obtained free from primary CO₂. These catalysts displayed stable FT performance at 23 bar and 235°C for at least 150 hours. Notably, in situ characterization emphasizes the high durability of pure ε(')-Fe₂C in an industrial pilot test. These findings contribute to the development of new Fe-based FT catalysts for next-generation CTL processes.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't