Fischer-Tropsch reaction within zeolite crystals for selective formation of gasoline-ranged hydrocarbons

Product selectivity control is attractive in Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis but it is still a challenge, because the F-T products follow the Anderson-Schulz-Flory (ASF) distribution with maximized gasoline-ranged (C-5-C-11) hydrocarbon selectivity at 45%. Herein, we report a strategy by optimizing the gasoline selectivity to outperform the ASF limitation. The key to this success is fixation of the metal nanoparticles within zeolite crystals (metal@zeolite), where the zeolite micropore adjusts the product selectivity. For example, the Ru@NaY exhibited the gasoline selectivity 64.3% in the F-T reaction, which is significantly higher than the ASF limitation and about 2 times of that (32.8%) over conventionally supported Ru catalyst (Ru/NaY). This investigation might offer an alternative route for the direct transformation of syngas to liquid fuels with controllable selectivities. (C) 2020 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study presents a strategy for optimizing gasoline selectivity by fixing metal nanoparticles within zeolite crystals, which overcomes the ASF limitation and offers a potential route for the direct transformation of syngas to liquid fuels with controllable selectivities.