Effect of Metal Promoter on the Property of Co/SiO2 Nanocatalyst

Catalyst productivity and selectivity to produce hydrocarbons are vital in designing or determining the criteria for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) catalysts and process. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) is a process that converts syn gas (mixture of CO and H2) to a range of hydrocarbons or in other words production of clean fuel from hydrogenation. As far as this project is concern, the main aim is to investigate or study the effect of metal promoter on the properties of silica supported cobalt, Co/SiO2 as cobalt-based catalyst is favored for the FTS because of their high selectivity, high activity and they are cheap. The promoters suitable for this process and suggested are zirconium, Zr and manganese, Mn that is promotion with transition metal oxides. Transition metal oxides enhance the performance and hydrocarbon selectivity of the cobalt catalyst. The scope of the project is to prepare Co/SiO2 with the promotion of Zr and Mn, perform characterization and comprehend the properties of the catalyst prepared using several characterization techniques and also relate the physical and chemical properties of the promoters used and the effects on Co/SiO2 properties. The catalyst is prepared via incipient wetness impregnation method as it is the commonly used method for preparation of cobalt catalyst. Apart from that, several techniques are used to characterize the properties of the prepared catalyst which includes TPR, FE-SEM, and XRD. The results obtained from this study is better reducibility of cobalt catalyst meaning higher reducibility of catalyst at much lower temperature for Zr-promoted catalyst. Zirconia promotion is proved to have more significant and favorable results as compared to manganese promotion that improves the FTS.