The Effect of Hydrophobically Modified Iron Catalysts with Hexadecyltrimethoxysilane on Fischer‐Tropsch Synthesis

Abstract Hydrophobic modification of Fischer‐Tropsch synthesis catalyst can inhibits water gas shift(WGS) reaction and regulates product distribution. Herein, a series of hydrophobic Fe 2 O 3 @SiO 2 ‐xHDTMS (Hexadecyltrimethoxysilane, HDTMS. x represents the amount of HDTMS.) catalysts with various HDTMS content were synthesized for Fischer‐Tropsch synthesis to light hydrocarbons. The Fe 2 O 3 @SiO 2 ‐xHDTMS catalysts were characterized by X‐ray diffractometer(XRD), scanning electron microscope(SEM), transmission electron microscope(TEM), fourier transform infrared spectrometer(FT‐IR) and contact angle measuring instrument(CAMI). After HDTMS modification, the hydrophobicity of the catalyst is significantly improved, the selectivity of the catalyst to CO 2 is significantly reduced due to the inhibition of WGS reaction, and the selectivity of hydrocarbon products is significantly improved. This indicates that HDTMS is very suitable as a silanizer for hydrophobic modification of Fischer‐Tropsch synthesis catalysts. With the increase of HDTMS content, the hydrophobicity of the catalyst always increased, but the selectivity of CO 2 in Fischer‐Tropsch synthesis products decreased first and then increased, and the selectivity of hydrocarbons increased first and then decreased, indicating that the content of HDTMS has a significant impact on the hydrophobicity and catalytic performance of the catalyst.