LAUSR

Abstract The present research work is focused on the kinetic and mechanistic studies of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis in a fixed bed micro reactor; over the nano-structured iron–cobalt–manganese catalyst prepared by hydrothermal procedure. Experimental conditions within the reactor were varied as follows: T = 265–330 °C, P = 1.2–10 bar, H 2 /CO feed ratio = 0.5–2 and GHSV = 4200 h −1 . Based on Langmuir–Hinshelwood–Hogan–Watson and Eley-Rideal adsorption theories in catalytic processes, 18 kinetic models for CO consumption were tested and interaction between dissociative adsorbed carbon monoxide and dissociative adsorbed hydrogen as the rate-determining step gave the best fitted kinetic model - r CO = k P b CO P CO b H 2 P H 2 2 1 + 2 b CO P CO 0.5 + b H 2 P H 2 0.5 6 . The Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm was used to estimate the kinetic parameters and the obtained activation energy was 85.18 kJ/mol for the optimal kinetic model. Characterization of catalysts was performed using XRD, FESEM, EDS, TEM and the N 2 adsorption–desorption measurements such as BET and BJH methods.