Carbon Spheres Prepared by Hydrothermal Synthesis-A Support for Bimetallic Iron Cobalt Fischer-Tropsch Catalysts

Carbon spheres (CSs) synthesised by the hydrothermal approach were explored as a model support material for a bimetallic Fe–Co Fischer–Tropsch (FT) catalyst. The CSs were characterised by N2 adsorption–desorption, thermogravimetric analysis, FTIR spectroscopy and powder XRD. If annealed at 900 °C for 4 h, the CSs exhibited an improved surface area, thermal stability and crystallinity. A series of Fe–Co bimetallic FT catalysts supported on the annealed CSs were prepared by co‐precipitation. A variety of Fe‐to‐Co ratios were used with the total metal loadings maintained at 10 %. Catalyst reducibility studies were performed by H2 temperature‐programmed reduction and in situ powder XRD. Catalysts with a Fe/Co ratio of 5:5 (w/w) showed Co–Fe alloy formation upon reduction at >450 °C. Interestingly, the presence of this alloy did not correlate with high C5+ selectivities during FT synthesis; rather the Co‐rich/Fe‐poor catalyst gave the best selectivity. The CSs allowed the metal–metal interactions in the bimetallic systems to be monitored because of the weak interaction of the metals with the support. ePDFPDF PDF Tools Share Abstract Carbon spheres (CSs) synthesised by the hydrothermal approach were explored as a model support material for a bimetallic Fe–Co Fischer–Tropsch (FT) catalyst. The CSs were characterised by N2 adsorption–desorption, thermogravimetric analysis, FTIR spectroscopy and powder XRD. If annealed at 900 °C for 4 h, the CSs exhibited an improved surface area, thermal stability and crystallinity. A series of Fe–Co bimetallic FT catalysts supported on the annealed CSs were prepared by co‐precipitation. A variety of Fe‐to‐Co ratios were used with the total metal loadings maintained at 10 %. Catalyst reducibility studies were performed by H2 temperature‐programmed reduction and in situ powder XRD. Catalysts with a Fe/Co ratio of 5:5 (w/w) showed Co–Fe alloy formation upon reduction at >450 °C. Interestingly, the presence of this alloy did not correlate with high C5+ selectivities during FT synthesis; rather the Co‐rich/Fe‐poor catalyst gave the best selectivity. The CSs allowed the metal–metal interactions in the bimetallic systems to be monitored because of the weak interaction of the metals with the support.