Issue 2, 2015

Proxy-based accelerated discovery of Fischer–Tropsch catalysts

Abstract

Development of heterogeneous catalysts for complex reactions such as Fischer–Tropsch synthesis of fuels is hampered by difficult reaction conditions, slow characterisation techniques such as chemisorption and temperature-programmed reduction and the need for long term stability. High-throughput (HT) methods may help, but their use has until now focused on bespoke micro-reactors for direct measurements of activity and selectivity. These are specific to individual reactions and do not provide more fundamental information on the materials. Here we report using simpler HT characterisation techniques (XRD and TGA) along with ageing under Fischer–Tropsch reaction conditions to provide information analogous to metal surface area, degree of reduction and thousands of hours of stability testing time for hundreds of samples per month. The use of this method allowed the identification of a series of highly stable, high surface area catalysts promoted by Mg and Ru. In an advance over traditional multichannel HT reactors, the chemical and structural information we obtain on the materials allows us to identify the structural effects of the promoters and their effects on the modes of deactivation observed.

Graphical abstract: Proxy-based accelerated discovery of Fischer–Tropsch catalysts

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
16 Jul 2014
Accepted
30 Sep 2014
First published
01 Oct 2014
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2015,6, 935-944

Author version available

Proxy-based accelerated discovery of Fischer–Tropsch catalysts

P. Boldrin, J. R. Gallagher, G. B. Combes, D. I. Enache, D. James, P. R. Ellis, G. Kelly, J. B. Claridge and M. J. Rosseinsky, Chem. Sci., 2015, 6, 935 DOI: 10.1039/C4SC02116A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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