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The reduction of cobalt (Co) catalyst supported on silica nanosprings for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) has been monitored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and compared to FT catalytic activity. The cobalt is present in the starting catalyst as a Co 3 O 4 spinel phase. A two-step reduction of Co 3 O 4 to CoO and then to Co 0 is observed, which is consistent with the results of H 2 -temperature programmed reduction. During the reduction the two steps occur concurrently. The deconvolution of the Co 2p core level state for the catalyst reduced at 385 °C and 1.0 × 10 −6 Torr of H 2 revealed signatures of Co 0 , CoO, and Co 3 O 4 . The reduction saturates at a Co o concentration of approximately 41% after 20 h, which correlates with the activity and lifetime of the catalyst during FTS testing. Conversely, at 680 °C and 10 Torr of H 2 , the catalyst is completely reduced after 10 h. The evolution of the Co d-band at the Fermi level in the valence band XPS spectrum definitively verifies the metallic phase of Co. FTS evaluation of the Co/NS catalyst reduced at 609 °C showed higher production rate (3-fold) of C 6 -C 17 hydrocarbons than the catalyst reduced at 409 °C and is consistent with the XPS analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of Al2O3 coating on the performance of silica nanospring (NS) supported Co catalysts for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) were evaluated in a quartz fixed-bed microreactor. The Co/NS-Al2O3 catalysts were synthesized by coating the Co/NS and NS with Al2O3 by an alkoxide-based sol-gel method (NS-Al-A and NS-Al-B, respectively) and then by decorating them with Co. Co deposition was via an impregnation method. Catalysts were characterized before the FTS reaction by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, temperature programmed reduction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetric analysis in order to find correlations between physico-chemical properties of catalysts and catalytic performance. The products of the FTS were trapped and analyzed by GC-TCD and GC-MS to determine the CO conversion and reaction selectivity. The Al2O3 coated NS catalyst had a significant affect in FTS activity and selectivity in both Co/NS-Al2O3 catalysts. A high CO conversion (82.4%) and Σ > C6 (86.3%) yield were obtained on the Co/NS-Al-B catalyst, whereas the CO conversion was 62.8% and Σ > C6 was 58.5% on the Co/NS-Al-A catalyst under the same FTS experimental condition. The Co/NS-Al-A catalyst yielded the aromatic selectivity of 10.2% and oxygenated compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]