Design of Carbon-Encapsulated Fe3O4 Nanocatalyst with Enhanced Performance for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis.

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS), an important process for the production of liquid fuels and chemicals from syngas derived from coal and biomass, is receiving renewed interest for both industrial and academic applications. Adjusting the product distribution of hydrocarbons is the focus of research in this field. Herein, a novel carbon-encapsulated Fe₃O₄ nanocatalyst was synthesized by a simple one-step solvothermal method without calcination. The catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity and higher selectivity for C_5-12 hydrocarbons (gasoline range products) than the traditional Fe₂O₃ catalyst. A 45.25 % C_5-12 selectivity was obtained for Fe₃O₄@C, which is close to the maximum value from the Anderson-Schulz-Flory distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]