The role of catalyst activation on the activity and attrition of precipitated iron Fischer-Tropsch catalysts

The results of this work indicate that magnetite is not catalytically active for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) in precipitated, unsupported iron catalysts, but the formation of the carbide phase is necessary to obtain FTS activity. The transformation of magnetite to carbide, though essential to obtain FTS activity, also causes the catalyst to break down. This can lead to severe problems during operation in a commercial slurry phase reactor. The results presented here imply that activation and attrition are simultaneous and complementary processes. In another study, we show that the catalyst can also under go attrition on a micron scale which is caused by lack of strength of the forces binding the catalyst primary particles in the agglomerates. Both these processes can make wax separation and product recovery extremely difficult. In this study, we have also shown that H{sub 2} reduction of this catalyst to metallic iron is detrimental to subsequent catalyst activity and causes a loss of surface area due to sintering of the iron crystallites. Reduction to metallic Fe also causes impurities such as S to segregate to the surface causing a complete loss of FTS activity. It has been shown that even submonolayer amounts of S can cause a dramatic decrease in FTS activity, hence reduction to metallic Fe should be avoided during activation of these catalysts. We have shown, however, that a mild H{sub 2} reduction to magnetite does not lead to S segregation to the surface, and is therefore acceptable