Co Hydrogenation To Alcohols Over Sba-15 Supported Fe, Co, And Cu: Binary Vs. Ternary Catalysts

Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS), currently used to obtain hydrocarbons from syngas, comprises a very complex set of reactions that yield a wide variety of products. An important subset among those products are alcohols, and a novel field of study of this classical reaction involves its tuning towards the production of higher alcohols (>C2+-OH). The present work aims to adapt classic FTS catalysts-based on Fe and Co as active components-towards the production of higher alcohols. Cu has also been considered as a potential component because of its activity towards methanol synthesis. Binary catalysts were synthesized to ascertain the effect of each metal on conversion of CO and selectivity towards alcohols. A ternary catalyst was also prepared to determine any possible synergistic effects between the three metals. Catalysts containing Co and Cu had little catalytic activity, with CH4 as the major product. Catalysts containing Fe and Cu showed good conversion, with high selectivity towards heavier hydrocarbons, CO2 formation by Water-Gas Shift (WGS), and significant yield of alcohols. Catalysts loaded with Fe and Co displayed similar values of conversion, but had lower WGS activity, as well as higher selectivity towards heavier hydrocarbons and moderate formation of higher alcohols. The ternary catalyst FeCoCu showed promising results; it gave an intermediate conversion, lower WGS activity than the FeCu catalysts, and the highest selectivity towards higher alcohols. These results suggest that further tuning of metallic loading can have interesting effects on the performance of catalysts towards higher alcohol synthesis.