Aldehydes and Ketones From Fischer Tropsch Synthesis

The use of a supercritical fluid as the reaction media for Fischer Tropsch Synthesis (SC-FTS) was first published by Kaoru Fujimoto’s research group in 1989.  In the years since, a number of groups have compared SC-FTS with traditional fixed bed Fischer Tropsch Synthesis (GP-FTS), finding that SC-FTS suppresses methane and CO₂ formation while enhancing the selectivity of olefins at higher carbon numbers.  Recently published work by our group has demonstrated that, under SC-FTS conditions on an iron-based catalyst, 10% to 30% of the diesel-length reaction products are aldehydes, with an additional 5% as methyl-ketones.

We will present our continuing work on the role of process conditions and catalyst composition on aldehyde synthesis.