Deactivation and regeneration of Fe-K/alumina catalyst in CO2 hydrogenation Original Research Article

The deactivation of impregnated Fe-K/alumina catalyst during CO2 hydrogenation to hydrocarbons has been studied. After the catalyst had been employed for 850 h, a long-term (850 h) reaction test led to 37% reduction in the hydrocarbon synthesis activity. With the deactivated catalyst, solvent extraction, reduction and oxidation–reduction treatments have been examined for the catalyst regeneration. The characterizations have been carried out by means of chemisorption, BET measurement, elemental analysis and X-ray diffraction with the fresh catalyst, the deactivated catalyst and post-treated catalysts. From the results, it can be deduced that the catalyst deactivation is mainly caused by the carbonaceous deposits. The deactivated catalyst has been successfully regenerated by the oxidation–reduction treatment.