Potassium (K), an important impurity in syngas from biomass, can have a large influence on the activity and selectivity of cobalt-based Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) catalysts in Biomass to Liquids (BTL) processes. In this work, the potassium adsorption behavior on hcp cobalt was systematically studied using density functional theory. The surface energy calculations and Wulff construction of the equilibrium shape of hcp cobalt showed it is dominated by 10 facets. The interaction of K with these facets has been investigated. The results showed that the stepped facet (10-12) has the highest K adsorption energy of -2.40 eV. The facets (0001), (10-10), (10-11), (10-15), and (21-30) also showed relatively high K adsorption energies in the range of -2.28 to -2.34 eV. The corrugated facets exhibited comparatively lower K adsorption energies (-2.04 to -2.18 eV), and would be less favorable for K adsorption. It was also found that the adsorption properties depend on coverage, where the K adsorption energy decreased with increasing coverage. Diffusion energy barrier calculations indicated that K was mobile on typical facets (0001) and (10-11) with very low diffusion barriers (<0.15 eV). On stepped facets, although K could move freely along the same step (diffusion barrier <0.01 eV), diffusion from one step to another had a significantly higher barrier of 0.56 eV. This suggested that K atoms would be mobile to some extent during FTS reaction conditions, and tend to occupy the most favorable sites independent of their initial position. The results obtained in this work provide valuable information on the interaction of K with cobalt surfaces, relevant for practical cobalt catalysts and their application in BTL processes.
The influence of potassium species on a Co based Fischer-Tropsch catalyst was investigated using an aerosol deposition technique. This way of poisoning the catalyst was chosen to simulate the actual potassium behaviour during the biomass to liquid (BTL) process utilizing gasification followed by fuel synthesis. A reference catalyst was poisoned with three levels of potassium and the samples were characterized and tested for the Fischer-Tropsch reaction under industrially relevant conditions. None of the conventional characterization techniques applied (H2 Chemisorption, BET, TPR) divulged any difference between poisoned and unpoisoned samples, whereas the activity measurements showed a dramatic drop in activity following potassium deposition. The results are compared to previous results where incipient wetness impregnation was used as the method of potassium deposition. The effect of potassium is quite similar in the two cases, indicating that irrespective of how potassium is introduced it will end up on in the same form and location on the active surface. This indicates that potassium is mobile under FTS conditions, and that potassium species are able to migrate to sites of particular relevance for the FT reaction.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.