Results of catalyst testing using iron-based catalysts.

摘要

As coal liquefaction catalysts, iron-based products are generally inferior to the more expensive molybdenum, cobalt, or nickel-based materials. However, the lower costs of production and recovery (or in the case of some iron catalysts, non-recovery) give the iron-based materials a potential economic advantage over the more efficient precious and semi-precious metal catalysts for this application. Recent research has shown that a number of different iron-containing materials can be successfully utilized as coal liquefaction catalysts or as catalyst. Pyrrhotite (Fe(sub 1-x)S) or a similar iron-sulfide phase is commonly believed to be the active catalyst in coal liquefaction and model compound pyrolysis reactions, although no specific phase has been yet been isolated as the actual catalyst species. The active iron-containing catalyst is usually generated in situ from an iron-oxide precursor and an elemental sulfur source under reducing conditions in the reactor vessel. Most research has concentrated on the use of common iron-oxide phases such as hematite or goethite (and their derivatives) as the iron-bearing precursor, or on non-specific iron materials produced by the reaction of various iron salts and compounds in the coal or liquefaction reactor. To our knowledge there has been no systematic effort to determine the optimum iron-containing precursor phase for producing active coal liquefaction catalysts, despite the fact that there are over ten iron-(hydroxy)oxide phases which can be easily synthesized in the laboratory. We have undertaken a systematic study to identify the most active iron-oxide catalyst precursor phases, the co-catalysts, and the coal pretreatments which will provide optimum yields in coal liquefaction processes.