Effects of loading and synthesis method of titania-supported cobalt catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

Because of their high activity and selectivity to C₅₊ hydrocarbons in the Fischer-Tropsch, process, titania-supported cobalt catalysts have received great interest from industrial and academic, institutions. Here, we report on three catalyst preparation procedures, incipient wetness impregnation (IWI), deposition precipitation using urea hydrolysis (DPU) or ammonia evaporation (DPA) to prepare, Co/TiO₂ catalysts with 4-24 wt.% Co. The results reveal a strong impact of the catalyst preparation, procedure on dispersion and distribution of cobalt over the titania surface. IWI led to clustered cobalt, oxide particles of ∼10 nm, while for the DPA catalysts, similarly sized nanoparticles were found to be, well-distributed over the support surface. Co/TiO₂ catalysts prepared by DPU showed the presence of, ∼2 nm supported cobalt oxide particles beside large unsupported particles. Catalytic tests under, industrially relevant conditions show that the DPA catalysts displayed a superior activity and C₅₊, selectivity for the entire cobalt loading range studied. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.