Studies on conversion of biomass-derived syngas to liquid fuels via fischer-tropsch synthesis

The present study investigates the conversion of producer gas from biomass gasification for the production of liquid biofuels through Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis. Since FT synthesis is a catalytically driven reaction, the catalyst properties play a crucial role in determining the hydrocarbon yields and spectrum. In this regard, the current work investigates two catalyst synthesis methods, wet impregnation (WI) and combustion synthesis (CS). The CS method utilized herein employed lean stoichiometry with the cobalt nitrate-citric acid reaction. Three distinct alumina supported cobalt catalysts were tested: one was synthesized with the WI method and two with the CS method at two different equivalence ratios (ϕ=0.6, ϕ=0.3). All the catalysts were tested for approximately 70 h, after stabilization, at 230 °C, 30 bar, H2/CO=2.1 and 2000 mL h-1 g-1. All the catalysts exhibit conversions higher than 40% and hydrocarbons in the range C1-C35 could be detected. The best performance is achieved by CS(ϕ=0.6) catalyst.