1130.    [GALL, D.] Characteristics of Fischer-Tropsch Waxes.  Inst. Petrol. Rev., vol. 1, Oct. 1947, pp. 336-337.

        The mixture of aliphatic hydrocarbons produced by the Fischer-Tropsch process ranges from CH₄ to solid waxes.  The boiling range of the individual products varies with the reaction conditions and the catalyst.  Wax production is favored by increase in pressure and by catalysts in the order of Co, Fe, Ru.  The Ruhrchemie prepared soft, block, and hard waxes from the medium-pressure synthesis product, the fraction boiling above 320° being divided by distillation in vacuo into a residue boiling above 460° at 760 mm., which constituted the hard wax, and two distillates, from which the soft and block waxes were obtained by sweating.  Similar low-melting waxes can be prepared from the atmospheric pressure product.  No data are available for comparison of the Fischer-Tropsch waxes with natural hydrocarbon waxes in respect of properties such as solvent retentivity, tensile strength, solubility, viscosity, etc.  It is known, however, that the soft and block waxes are closely similar to the corresponding petroleum paraffin waxes.  The value of the high-melting waxes is not so readily assessed, and from what is known of their structure it is doubtful if they are adequate substitutes for natural waxes of high-melting point and hardness.

         See abs. 671, 675, 1334, 1335, 1335a, 1336.