Impact of Process Conditions on the Sintering Behavior of an Alumina-Supported Cobalt Fischer-Tropsch Catalyst Studied with an in Situ Magnetometer

Sintering of supported cobalt nanoparticles is one of the main deactivation mechanisms in the Fischer Tropsch synthesis. In this study, crystallite growth was studied with an alumina-supported catalyst in real time and as a function of process conditions using a novel in situ magnetometer. It could be shown that sintering with this catalyst occurred via a combination of high CO and high water partial pressures. It is proposed that particle growth proceeds via cobalt subcarbonyl migration over the hydroxylated support surface.