Using Different Preparation Methods to Enhance Fischer-Tropsch Products over Iron-based Catalyst

Three Fe-Mn/Al2O3 catalysts were prepared by three different preparation techniques, i.e. co-precipitation; sol-gel and impregnation, and their Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) activity and selectivity behavior were investigated and compared using a fixedbed reactor. It was observed that the impregnated catalyst had the lowest initial activity but was more stable than the other catalysts. The co-precipitated and sol-gel catalysts showed enhanced light olefin production as compared with the impregnated. Methane selectivity decreased with time on stream for both the impregnated and co-precipitated catalysts while it increased for the sol-gel. The impregnated catalyst showed the lowest WGS activity, the highest hydrocarbon selectivity and the highest chain growth probability