Kinetic studies of the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis over La, Mg and Ca promoted nano-structured iron catalyst

The kinetic of the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) over nano-structured iron catalyst promoted with Mg, La and Ca, was studied in a continuous spinning basket reactor. Fe/Cu/Si nano-structured catalyst was prepared by co-precipitation in a water-in-oil microemulsion. The results indicated that both the rate constant (k) and the adsorption parameter (b) in a common two-parameter Fischer–Tropsch rate expression decreased with increasing the catalyst surface basicity. Since decreases in rate constant (k) and the adsorption parameter (b) affected the FTS rate in reverse direction, the basicity of catalyst surface showed complicated effects on kinetic parameters of FTS reaction. The optimum promoter would be one that its rate constant (k) should not be too low and its adsorption parameter (b) should not be too high.