Study of Ce Promoter on Nano Structure Iron Catalyst in Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) is an established technological route for upgrading natural gas, coal, and biomass to liquid fuels and other chemical products. Fe and Co catalysts are currently used in industrial scale. Effect of cerium element has been scrutinized on conventional nano-structure iron catalyst in FTS process. The nano-sized iron catalysts prepared by micro-emulsion method have composition in terms of atomic ratio as: 100Fe/3Cu, 100Fe/3Cu / 1.5Ce, 100Fe/3Cu / 3Ce. XRD, BET, TEM, and TPR techniques were utilized to assess the catalyst phases,structure,and morphology. The results indicated that promoted catalyst compare to the unpromoted catalyst, has higher FT rate and secondary reaction for CO2 production but lower gas fraction. 1