BIOFUEL PRODUCTION OVER FISCHER-TROPSCH SYNTHESIS: EFFECT OF Fe-Co/meso-HZSM-5 CATALYST WEIGHT ON PRODUCT COMPOSITION AND PROCESS CONVERSION.

Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) using Fe-Co/meso-HZSM-5 catalyst has been investigated. The impregnated iron and cobalt on HZSM-5 could be used as bifunction catalyst which combined polimerizing synthesis gas and long hydrocarbon cracking for making biofuel (saturated C5-C25 hydrocarbons as gasoline, kerosene and diesel oil). The study emphasized the effect of catalyst weight on product composition and process conversion. The HZSM-5, had been converted from ammonium ZSM-5 through calcination, and then desilicated with NaOH solution. The Co(NO3)2⋅6H2O and Fe(NO3)3⋅9H2O were used as precursor for incipient wetness impregnation (IWI) on amorphous meso-HZSM-5. The catalyst consisted of 10 % Fe and 90 % Co by weight, called 10Fe-90Co/meso-HZSM-5. All catalysts were reduced in situ in the continuous reactor with flowing hydrogen at 25 mL/min, 1 bar, 400 °C for 10 hours. The catalyst performance was observed in the same continuous fixed bed reactor at 25 mL/min synthesis gas (30 % CO, 60 % H2, 10 % N2), 250 °C, 20 bar for 96 hours. Various catalyst weight (1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 gram) were applied in FTS. The desilicated HZSM-5 properties (BET analysis) were 6.1-29.9 nm mesoporous diameter, 0.3496 cc/g average mesoporous volume, 526.035 cc/g pore surface area, and the EDX analysis gave 22.1059 Si/Al ratio and 16.11 % loading (by weight) on meso-HZSM-5. The reduced catalyst showed the XRD spectra of Fe (66°), Fe-Co alloy (44.50°) and Co3O4 (36.80°). The reaction using 1 gram of 10Fe-90Co/meso-HZSM-5 catalyst produced the largest composition and conversion. The 1 gram catalyst gave the largest normal selectivity of gasoline (19.15 %) and kerosene (55.18 %). While the largest normal diesel oil selectivity (24.17 %) was obtained from 1.4 gram of catalyst. The CO conversion per gram of catalyst showed similar value (CO conversion of 26-28 %) for all catalyst weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]