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High Selectivity of Medium Distillates in Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis Using Dual Bed

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Abstract

A dual bed was used as an alternative to favor Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) selectivity towards products with higher added value (C10–C20), as waxes produced on metallic sites may be cracked on acid sites. For the FT catalyst, the use of SiC as support favors heat transfer and temperature maintenance due to its high thermal conductivity. Concerning acid catalyst, mesoporous zeolite tends to increase accessibility to sites and cracking of heavier molecules. Therefore, mesopores were created from the pristine NaY zeolite using a sequence of acid and alkaline post-treatments. The catalysts were characterized by N2 physisorption, XRD, TPR, SEM/EDS, TGA, Raman, and XRF. Three configurations: Co/SiC (A), Co/SiC + Meso Y zeolite (B) and physical mixture of two catalysts (C), were evaluated in an FTS reactor at 483 K, 2.0 MPa, H2/CO = 2. The highest selectivity to diesel and lubricants, with a stable CO conversion of 10%, was obtained with configuration B. The association of mesoporous Y zeolite with Co/SiC catalyst contributed to cracking heavy products (C21+), favoring low methane formation and yields above 30% kerosene and diesel.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brazil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001. We would like to dedicate this work to the memory of Prof. Victor Teixeira da Silva.

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  1. In memoriam—Victor Teixeira da Silva.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Centro de Tecnologia, Escola de Química, Bloco E, Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941-909, Brazil

    Gisele Westphalen & Mônica Antunes Pereira da Silva

  2. Centro de Pesquisas Leopoldo Américo Miguez de Mello - CENPES/PETROBRAS, Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941-915, Brazil

    Karine Alves Cortez

  3. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Programa de Engenharia Química−COPPE, P.O. Box 68502, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941-9, Brazil

    Maria A. S. Baldanza, Antônio José de Almeida, Vera Maria Martins Salim & Victor Teixeira da Silva

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  1. Gisele Westphalen
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  2. Karine Alves Cortez
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  3. Maria A. S. Baldanza
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  4. Antônio José de Almeida
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Contributions

Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Writing - Original Draft: GW; Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Writing - Original Draft: KAC; Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources: MASB; Investigation: AJA; Supervision, Writing - Review & Editing: VMMS; Supervision, Methodology, Writing - Review & Editing: MAPS; Supervision, Methodology, Writing - Review & Editing: VTS.

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Correspondence to Gisele Westphalen.

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Westphalen, G., Cortez, K.A., Baldanza, M.A.S. et al. High Selectivity of Medium Distillates in Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis Using Dual Bed. Catal Lett 152, 2533–2542 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-021-03834-y

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