Single-Stage Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis and Hydroprocessing: The Hydroprocessing Performance of Ni/ZSM-5/γ-Al2O3 under Fischer–Tropsch Conditions

Titania-Supported Ni2 P/Ni Catalysts for Selective Solar-Driven CO Hydrogenation

Solar-driven Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) holds great potential for the sustainable production of fuels from syngas and solar energy. However, the selectivity toward multi-carbon products (C₂₊ ) is often hampered by the difficulty in the regulation of transition metals acting as both light absorption units and active sites. Herein, a partial phosphidation strategy to prepare titania supported Ni₂ P/Ni catalysts for photothermal FTS is demonstrated. Under Xenon lamp or concentrated sunlight irradiation, the optimized catalyst shows a C₂₊ selectivity of 70% at a CO conversion of >20%. Conversely, nickel metal in the absence of Ni₂ P delivers negligible C₂₊ products (≈1%) with methane being the major product (>90%). Structural characterization and density functional theory calculation reveal that the partial phosphidation allows exposed metallic Ni to be active for CO adsorption and activation, while the existence of Ni₂ P/Ni interface is responsible to inhibit CO methanation and promote C-C coupling of adsorbed *CH intermediates. This work introduces a novel phosphidation strategy for nickel-based photothermal catalysts in efficiently harnessing solar energy, and regulating the reaction pathways for CO hydrogenation to deliver high value products.

Enhanced Phenol Tert-Butylation Reaction Activity over Hierarchical Porous Silica-Alumina Materials

Hierarchical aluminum-silicon materials have been successfully prepared by mixing pre-crystallization of silica-alumina sol and citric acid under hydrothermal conditions. The influence of pre-crystallization time on the micro-mesoporous structure is studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), N2 physical adsorption, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The catalytic performance of hierarchical silica-alumina material is evaluated by alkylation of phenol with tert-butanol. The results show that the silica-alumina materials with a pre-crystallization time of 16 h show micro-mesoporous structure and excellent catalytic activity.

Role of mesopores in Co/ZSM-5 for the direct synthesis of liquid fuel by Fischer–Tropsch synthesis

In a complex reaction system, in which gas, liquid, and solid catalysts work together, understanding the impact of mass transfer that varies with the catalyst pore structure is very challenging but also essential to designing selective catalysts.

Recent advances in reactors for low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch synthesis: process intensification perspective

The low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch (LTFT) process aims to produce heavy cuts such as wax and diesel. For many years, there have been studies and improvements on the LTFT process to make the existing reactors more efficient. Recent studies have proposed innovative configurations such as monolithic loop and membrane reactors as well as microchannel reactor, which improved the performance of LTFT synthesis. This persuades us to update the existing knowledge about the available reactors. Some fundamental features of the current reactors, which belong to the classes of conventional reactors (fixed-bed reactors and slurry reactors) and innovative reactors, are discussed to assist the selection of the most efficient reactors specifically for heavy-cuts production. Published experimental and theoretical works with respect to developments in reactor technology and significant advances in catalysis (such as using structured packing, foams, and knitted wire as catalyst supports due to their excellent radial mixing properties) of the FT process are analyzed and discussed. Consequently, it is shown that the LTFT innovative reactors have higher CO conversions and selectivity of desired heavy cuts. Furthermore, the place of innovative reactors among conventional reactors in terms of effective process parameters on the product distribution has been estimated.

Catalysis engineering of bifunctional solids for the one-step synthesis of liquid fuels from syngas: a review

The combination of acidic zeolites and Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) catalysts for one-step production of liquid fuels from syngas is critically reviewed.

Towards liquid fuels from biosyngas: effect of zeolite structure in hierarchical-zeolite-supported cobalt catalysts

Wax on, wax off: Bifunctional cobalt-based catalysts on zeolite supports are applied for the valorization of biosyngas through Fischer-Tropsch chemistry. By using these catalysts, waxes can be hydrocracked to shorter-chain hydrocarbons, increasing the selectivity towards the C5 -C11 (gasoline) fraction. The zeolite topology and the amount and strength of acid sites are key parameters to maximize the performance of these bifunctional catalysts, steering Fischer-Tropsch product selectivity towards liquid hydrocarbons.