Novel Supported iron Fischer Tropsch catalysts : preparation, characterization and applications

For political and environmental concerns about fossil fuels, today it is imperative to develop economical and energy-efficient processes for the sustainable production of fuels and chemicals. Fischer Tropsch synthesis is a well-established industrial process able to utilize for these objectives syngas (mixture of H2, CO, CO2) manufactured from CH4, coal or, as a new tendency, from biomass. In particular, for the utilization of syngas from biomass it is necessary to use iron-based catalysts. The PhD work has performed an optimization study of particular iron based supported catalysts loaded with high amount of iron, in order to obtain a new kind of Fischer Tropsch catalysts having good performance and great mechanical resistance. The research has dealt with different studies: the catalyst composition (concerning both the loading of iron on silica and the quantity of promoters), the catalysts activation procedure before the FT runs, the calculation of the catalysts activation energy, the influence of many parameters as the temperature and the pressure of the reactor, the composition of the feeding gas, the influence of the calcination temperature of the used catalysts. Moreover, a deep catalysts characterization has been made using different techniques (BET, TPR, SEM, TEM, IR, micro-Raman, XRD, ICP) to correlate the FT results with the catalysts properties. All the catalysts have been prepared using the impregnation method and in some case an innovative procedure with the help of Ultrasound (US) has been tested. Moreover a project of a new membrane reactor has been made, in collaboration with Genoa University, to increase at maximum the stability and the optimization of the process.