Structure-activity relationships of ruthenium Fischer-Tropsch catalysts (metal particle size effects)

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6438481

White, Jr, M W

In the group VIII transition metal catalytic conversion of hydrogen/carbon monoxide mixtures to hydrocarbons, it is known that certain catalysts catalyze the production of a narrow boiling range (C{sub 6}-C{sub 12}) product which does not fit the traditional Anderson-Schulz-Flory (ASF) chain growth model. Among the proposed explanations for this selectivity is one based on control of hydrocarbon chain propagation by metal particle size. The focus of this work was to study the effect of metal particle size on catalytic activity for the F-T synthesis. The silica-supported and unsupported Ru catalysts catalyzed the production of a hydrocarbon product which followed the ASF chain growth model and which consisted primarily of n-aklanes and linear 1-alkenes. An equation was derived relating the weight fraction of alkenes and alkanes to the residence times of the alkenes in the reactor and this equation produced a reasonable fit to the experimental data. It was observed that hydrocarbon, CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} production increased with time apparently reaching steady state after {approximately}200H. It was also found that increasing reactant gas space velocities (SHSV's) increased the steady state turnover numbers for hydrocarbon, CO{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} production, while at the same time, the AFS probabilities of chain growth and alkene/alkane ratios remained effectively constant.

• Research Organization: Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, VA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6438481
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400201* -- Chemical & Physicochemical Properties
ALKANES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CATALYSTS
CHALCOGENIDES
ELEMENTS
HYDROCARBONS
METALS
METHANE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLE SIZE
PLATINUM METALS
RUTHENIUM
SIZE
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
STRUCTURE-ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIPS
SYNTHESIS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS