Abstract:
The combustion of carbon-based fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) for power generation is accompanied by large emissions of anthropogenic CO
2 into the atmosphere, leading to global climate change and ocean acidification. Direct conversion of CO
2 and H
2 via reverse water–gas shift (RWGS) and subsequent Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) is well-known as a sustainable alternative for the synthesis of olefins, replacing conventional petrochemical process of naphtha stream-cracking or separation. The structure and properties of the inert support have significant effects on the activity, selectivity and stability of the catalyst, but there are few reports about the effects of different supports on the active phase formation and olefins selectivity of Fe-based catalysts in CO
2 hydrogenation. Therefore, the study of the influence of different support on the CO
2 hydrogenation performance of Fe-based catalysts has important guiding significance for the design and synthesis of efficient catalysts. Herein, the Fe-based catalysts with different supports (Q-30, Q-10, Al
2O
3 and TiO
2) were prepared by impregnation method, and the effects of supports on the catalytic activity and olefins selectivity in CO
2 hydrogenation were studied. The catalyst samples were characterized by N
2 adsorption-desorption, XRD, HAADF-STEM, TEM, XPS, H
2-TPR, CO
2-TPD and NH
3-TPD. The N
2 adsorption-desorption isotherms of Q-10, Q-30, Al
2O
3 and TiO
2 support were all classified as type IV by IUPAC. At the same time, there are hysteresis loops in the absorption and desorption curves of these samples, indicating the existence of mesoporous structures. Combined with the reaction data, it can be seen that the specific surface area and pore structure of the support are not regularly correlated with the catalyst activity and olefin selectivity. No XRD diffraction peak attributed to Fe phase was observed in all fresh catalysts. Combined with the results of XPS and STEM-EDX of the fresh catalysts, it can be inferred that this is due to the low content of iron oxide and good dispersion. In the TEM images of the catalysts after the reaction, a large number of lattice fringes belonging to the (501) crystal face of Fe
5C
2 phase were observed in both FeNa/Al
2O
3 and FeNa/TiO
2 catalysts, while no Fe
5C
2 phase was found in FeNa/Q-30 and FeNa/Q-10 catalysts. XRD peaks of Fe
5C
2 species appeared on both FeNa/Al
2O
3 and FeNa/TiO
2 catalysts after reaction at 2
θ=40°−50°, indicating that the Fe
2O
3 species was partially carbonized to Fe
5C
2 after reaction. However, FeNa/Q-30 and FeNa/Q-10 catalysts did not have significant iron carbide diffraction peaks. This may indicate that the iron oxide in FeNa/Al
2O
3 and FeNa/TiO
2 catalysts are more likely to be reduced and carbonized to produce Fe
5C
2.The catalytic results show that the Fe-based catalyst with Al
2O
3 as support has the highest activity, highest olefins selectivity, and good stability. The single-pass CO
2 conversion is 28.2%, the selectivity of all olefins reach 68.1%, and the selectivity of long chain olefins is 45.1%. The reduction and carburization of iron species were promoted in the high dispersed FeNa/Al
2O
3 catalyst, due to the moderate metal-support interaction. Meanwhile, it exhibits strongest CO
2 adsorption ability and more surface acid sites, which can enhance CO
2 activation and C−C coupling process. The chain growth factor (α) was as high as 0.74. The CO
2 conversion of FeNa/TiO
2 catalyst was 24.2%, but showed higher CO by-product selectivity and lower C
2+ olefin selectivity than FeNa/Al
2O
3. In contrast, the activity of Fe-based catalysts with SiO
2 (Q-30, Q-10) support are very low (~10%), and the products are mainly CO and methane from RWGS and CO
2 methanation reaction, probably due to the low reduction and carburization ability, low CO
2 adsorption ability and less acid sites of catalysts.