CO hydrogenation with Co catalyst supported on porous media

In this work, pillared clays as Co catalysts supports were studied in the C O hydrogenation called Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reaction. Two supports were prepared by different methods [K. Sapag, Ph.D. Thesis, Un iversidad Autonoma de Madrid, 1997, Madrid, Spain] with the same metal/clay ratio. They were impregnated with 20% Of cobalt in salt solution and calci nated to obtain the catalysts. The reaction was realised at 20 bar of press ure and temperatures between 200 and 280 degreesC approximately. The results show a better selectivity to products with certain carbon chain size for one of the supports, due probably to its textural properties. Thi s selectivity was investigated through a series of additional experiences i n which different catalysts were prepared and probed, among them a FT stand ard catalyst. The catalyst that shows the best results not only has good shape selectivit y, besides, it also has better intrinsic activity if compared with the FT s tandard catalyst. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.