Carburized cobalt catalyst for the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis

Abstract

Cobalt is an important catalyst for the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) reaction. We present a pretreatment process to enhance the activity of cobalt catalyst by carburizing it with an intermediate time. Cobalt catalyst carburized for 0.5 h showed higher activity than the cobalt catalyst without carburization and cobalt catalyst carburized for 2 h. TEM analysis revealed the existence of different phases of Co₃C, Co, and Co₂C for these catalysts, with Co₃C showing high activity for the FTS reaction. With the help of DFT calculations, we assessed the structure–performance relationships among the Co₃C, Co, and Co₂C, and found that Co₃C was more active for CO activation. Our study provides a new idea to rationally design Co-based FTS catalysts with high activity.