CO HYDROGENATION OVER ZIRCONIA SUPPORTED IRON CATALYSTS PROMOTED WITHRARE-EARTH-OXIDES

Zirconia supported iron catalysts promoted with La2O3 and CeO2, respec tively, are prepared by sequential impregnation method. It is shown th at the structure, reduction behavior, and the catalytic property for C O hydrogenation of these catalysts are quite different from that of th e unpromoted Fe/ZrO2 sample, and are influenced significantly by the k inds of promoter elements. For the Fe/La/ZrO2 sample, the catalytic ac tivity is only a little bit higher than that of the Fe/ZrO2 sample, bu t light olefins selectivity increases and methane formation is suppres sed. For the Fe/Ce/ZrO2 sample, the catalytic activity is much higher than that of the unpromoted Fe/ZrO2 sample, while methane formation is suppressed and light olefins selectivity slightly increases. The role s of different rare earth oxide promoters in these catalysts are discu ssed.