Preparation of Co/SiO2-Al2O3 Fiber Catalyst by Electrospinning for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

The SiO2-Al2O3 fiber composites had been successfully prepared by the combination technique of electrospinning and sol-gel method. The effects of Al2O3 contents (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5%wt) on fiber diameter and morphology were investigated by SEM. It was observed that alumina content significantly influenced the average diameter of fiber which increased by increasing the alumina content. The prepared fiber composites were used as a support for cobalt (Co)-based catalysts for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS). The FTS performances over the fiber and porous catalysts were carried out in a fixed bed reactor at 280°C, 1 atm, and H2/CO of 2. The results showed that the fiber catalysts were easily reduced when comparing the porous catalyst. The fiber catalysts showed the activity at the same level of the porous catalyst, but their advantage was the lower water gas shift reaction which produced less CO2 than the porous catalyst. The CO conversion was 59.62% with the fiber catalyst and 52.80% with the porous catalyst under the same experimental condition. The fiber catalyst gave the maximum methane selectivity of 96.08% compared to the porous catalyst (85.63%).