Diffusion Studies of Linear Paraffins in Activated Carbon

As the search for greener processes are growing in recent years, Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reaction has become attractive due to its possibility to produce cleaner fuels. The FT reaction uses syngas, a mixture of CO, CO₂ and H₂, provided by coal or biomass gasification, with metallic catalysts, to produce a wide range of hydrocarbons. The efficiency of this reaction can be improved by modifying the catalyst properties and therefore deeper investigations to relate the syngas conversion and selectivity with the catalyst properties, which include adsorption kinetics, are needed. Activated carbon has been pointed as an attractive metal support for the FT reaction due to its higher specific surface area, low cost, wide pore size distribution and the chemistry complexity on its surface. This study presents diffusion measurements of linear paraffins (C₇-C₁₆) on activated carbon, as a support, impregnated with iron or cobalt, using the Zero Length Column (ZLC) technique.