Deactivation and regeneration of Fe-K/alumina catalyst in CO2 hydrogenation

The deactivation of impregnated Fe-K/alumina catalyst during CO2 hydrogenat ion to hydrocarbons has been studied. After the catalyst had been employed for 850 h, a long-term (850 h) reaction test led to 37% reduction in the hy drocarbon synthesis activity. With the deactivated catalyst, solvent extrac tion, reduction and oxidation-reduction treatments have been examined for t he catalyst regeneration. The characterizations have been carried out by me ans of chemisorption, BET measurement, elemental analysis and X-ray diffrac tion with the fresh catalyst, the deactivated catalyst and post-treated cat alysts. From the results, it can be deduced that the catalyst deactivation is mainly caused by the carbonaceous deposits. The deactivated catalyst has been successfully regenerated by the oxidation-reduction treatment. (C) 20 01 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.