Evaluation of Reverse Microemulsion Parameters Over the Catalytic Performance of Promoted Fe–Co Catalysts for the Production of Light Olefins from Syngas Using Box–Behnken Design

Abstract

In this study, Mn and K promoted Fe–Co nanocatalysts supported on MgO were synthesized via microemulsion technique, and the effect of fabrication parameters (aging time, precursor concentration and annealing temperature) on the performance of the catalyst in Fischer–Tropsch synthesis was assessed. For precise assessment of individual and interaction effects of fabrication factors on light olefins selectivity, the Box–Behnken design was applied. The results demonstrated that the attained quadratic equation appropriately fitted the experimental data. With regards to the fitted model, the effective parameter on light olefins selectivity was determined (annealing temperature). To elucidate in detail the relationship between annealing temperature and catalyst performance, XRD, BET, FESEM, ICP, H2-TPR and CO-TPD characterization techniques were performed. The observations from the used characterizations of catalyst demonstrated that an increase in annealing temperature led to the creation of mixed metal oxide which had difficult reduction conditions and demonstrated more stable CO adsorption. The results demonstrated that the formation of mixed metal-support interaction had a positive synergistic effect on the O/P ratio.Graphical Abstract