A silica supported Fe–Co bimetallic catalyst prepared by the sol/gel technique: Operating conditions, catalytic properties and characterization

A Co/Fe catalyst was prepared using the sol/gel technique in order to study its catalytic activity and selectivity in the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. The effect of a range of operation variables such as pressure, temperature and H2/CO molar feed ratio on the catalytic performance of 40%Fe/60%Co/15 wt.%SiO2/1.5 wt.%K catalyst was investigated. It was found that the optimum operating conditions is a H2/CO = 2/1 molar feed ratio at 350 °C temperature and 3 bar pressure. Characterization of both precursor and calcined catalysts was carried out using XRD, SEM, EDS, TPR, BET surface area measurements and thermal analysis methods such as TGA and DSC. It was observed that all of the different operation variables influenced the structure, morphology and catalytic performance of the catalysts.