Hydrogenation of Carbon Monoxide by Iron-Nickel Base Amorphous Ribbons

Abstract

Hydrogenation of carbon monoxide was carried out over amorphous and crystalline ribbon catalysts of the same composition Fe₂₀Ni₆₀P₂₀. The initial distribution of product hydrocarbons was strongly dependent on the partial pressure of carbon monoxide, showing the s electivity for higher hydrocarbons with increasing partial pressure of carbon monoxide. The amorphous catalysts yielded C₂ to C₅ hydrocarbons at much higher rates than the crystalline catalyst which showed the higher selectivity to methane.
When high conversion of carbon monoxide was carried out, the rates of olefin production decreased with increasing residence time on both the amorphous and the crystalline catalystst. The distribution with the crystalline catalyst followed the Schulz-Flory model.
Since the propagation reaction of ethylene to yield propylene is experi mentally ascertained over the amorphous catalyst, a model simulating the reaction was constructed to explain the experimental product distribution. The calculated results from the proposed model show that the propagation reaction of olefins may be one of the most plausible explanations for the experimental distribution which was different from the SF distribution.