TITLE: Deactivation by carbon of iron catalysts for indirect liquefaction.  Quarterly technical progrress report, December 16, 1988-March 15, 1989.

AUTHOR: C. H. Bartholomew.

INST.  AUTHOR: Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT.

SPONSOR: Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

LANGUAGE: English

PUB.  TYPE: Technical Report

PUB.  COUNTRY: United States

SOURCE: Department of Energy [DE],  11 Aug 90,  15p.

NTIS ORDER NO.: DE90015530INW

ABSTRACT:

This report describes recent progress in a fundamental, three-year investigation of carbon formation and its effects on the activity and selectivity of promoted iron catalysts for FT synthesis, the objectives of which are: determine rates and mechanisms of carbon deactivation of unsupported Fe and Fe/K catalysts during CO hydrogenation over a range of CO concentrations, Co:H(sub 2) ratios, and temperatures; and model the rates of deactivation of the same catalysts in fixed-bed reactors. The project will be divided into the following tasks: determine the kinetics of reaction and of carbon deactivation during CO hydrogenation on Fe and Fe/K catalysts coated on monolith bodies; determine the reactivities and types of carbon deposited during reaction of the same catalysts from temperature-programmed-surfaced-reaction spectroscopy (TPSR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Determine the types of iron carbides formed at various temperatures and H(sub 2)/CO ratios using x-ray diffraction and Moessbauer spectroscopy; and using a reaction model for FT synthesis developed in this laboratory, the kinetics of reaction and deactivation measured in Task 1, and models of fixed-bed reactors from others workers, develop mathematical deactivation models which include heat and mass transport contributions for FT synthesis in packed-bed reactors. This quarter, design of software for a computer-automated reactor system to be used in the kinetic and deactivation studies was continued. Further progress was made towards the completion of the control language, control routines, and software for operating this system. Progress was also made on the operating manual and testing of the system hardware and software. 47 refs.

REPORT  NUMBER: DOE/PC/90533-10

CONTRACT  NUMBER: FG22-86PC90533