Manipulation of Fischer Tropsch Catalysts for Controlled Selectivity

This project will investigate the use of promoters for Fischer Tropsch, and routes to control and direct selectivity towards different products. Fischer Tropsch uses metallic cobalt or iron active sites to convert syngas to hydrocarbons for fuel, while the synthesis, additives and pretreatments have a major impact on the performance/selectivity of the final catalyst. This project will investigate a variety of catalyst pellets with a range of the promoters and pretreatments (calcination/reduction) to understand their effect on FT reactor selectivity. Dr Beale has previously shown the use of in situ XRD beamlines can be used to investigate the nature of commercial catalysts under realistic conditions (T, P, GHSV) to give 2/3-D images across the pellet during treatments. This becomes a highly valuable tool for studying catalyst pellets and gives vital spatial resolution about metal dispersion and interactions across a single pellet and the impact this has on catalytic activity