Ultrafine particles of iron in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:254848

Mahajan, D; Pandya, K ^[1]

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1. Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)

Though direct combustion of natural gas is the most efficient use of this abundant, inexpensive, and cleaner fossil fuel, its potential to replace existing less efficient feedstocks for downstream processes is enormous. Direct conversion of methane to useful products under mild conditions is an ongoing area of research, and a few reported successes include higher hydrocarbons (C{sub 2}-C{sub 6}) synthesis on Pt at 250{degrees}C, Hg-catalyzed synthesis of methanol at 180{degrees}C, and acetic acid synthesis catalyzed by aqueous RhCl{sub 3} at 100{degrees}C. Since these approaches are in early stages of development, improvements in other known routes are of interest. Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis is an indirect route to catalytic production of liquid fuels from synthesis gas derived from carbonaceous sources. The process is still uneconomical for widespread use due to low space-time-yield (STY), low product selectivity, and catalyst intolerance to sulfur. To address these aspects, a few reports describe the use of ultrafine particle (UFP) catalysts in slurry-phase F-T synthesis, We recently reported that a commercially available unsupported UFP FeZO{sub 3} material (NANOCAT{trademark}) (Mean particle diameter (MPD) = 3 nm; surface area (SA) - 255 m{sup 2}/g) slurried in a C{sub 30} hydrocarbon solvent, after reduction at 280{degrees}C under CO, catalyzed conversion of balanced synthesis gas (H{sub 2}/CO = 2/1) at {>=} 220{degrees}C and {<=} 3 MPa. Described below are additional runs carried out to further scrutinize the Fe UFP system.

• OSTI ID: 254848
• Report Number(s): CONF-940813--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
CATALYSTS
CATALYTIC EFFECTS
FISCHER-TROPSCH SYNTHESIS
IRON OXIDES
PARTICLE SIZE
SURFACE AREA
SYNTHESIS GAS
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE