Abstract

The effects of noble metal (NM) promotion and deposition order (co-deposition of NM with the final Co deposition [co-dep] or sequential deposition of NM after Co deposition [seq-dep]) on surface area, pore size, metal retention, crystallite size, noble metal distribution and bonding in Co Fischer Tropsch (FT) catalysts were studied as were the resulting Co reducibility and Fischer Tropsch activity/selectivity properties. Catalysts containing nominally 25wt% Co with either 0.3 wt% Ru, 0.58 wt% Pt, 0.55wt% Re, or no NM on a La-stabilized-Al2O3 support were prepared by wet deposition. The Co, Pt, and Re were uniformly dispersed, but Ru distribution and retention were problematic and deposition-order dependent—85% was lost with co-dep, but it was uniformly distributed while 54% was lost with seq-dep and it was concentrated at the pellet edge. The co-dep catalysts all have smaller reduced Co crystallite size than their corresponding seq-dep catalysts. The average crystallite diameters for all 3 co-dep catalysts are between 4.1 and 4.3nm and ~90% of the crystallites are < 6nm. XAFS measurements showed that after reduction at 360°C, Pt is bonded with Co even with mild calcination between the final Co and the Pt deposition. On the other hand, neither Ru nor Re formed direct bonds with Co. Ru remained in a separate metal phase after reduction even at low loadings. Re remained as Re2O7 and still promoted Co reduction well (e.g. 42% reduced to Co metal compared to none for the unpromoted catalyst). By all measures of reducibility (TPR, EOR, H2 uptake), all NM promoted catalysts were more reducible than the unpromoted catalyst. The co-dep catalysts have lower TPR peak temperatures, but lower extents of reduction than their corresponding seq-dep catalysts. The NM type effect on overall extent of reduction trend was Co/Pt-seq>Co/Re-seq>Co/Ru-seq=Co/Pt-co>Co/Re-co>Co/Ru-co>Co. The Co/Pt-co catalyst was the most active of all the catalysts both on rate per mass and per site basis. The co-dep catalysts were all more active than the corresponding sequentially deposited catalysts. The co-dep Pt and Re catalyst activity is greater due to higher activity per site, while co-dep Ru activity is greater due to a higher abundance of active sites.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; Chemical Engineering

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2012-08-08

Document Type

Dissertation

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd5604

Keywords

Cobalt, Fischer-Tropsch, noble metal, reducibility, deposition order

Language

English

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