Mechanism and kinetics of the hydrogenation of CO with the formation of paraffins and olefins on an iron catalyst

A kinetic model is proposed for the hydrogenation of CO on a Fe/Al₂O₃ catalyst, based on a mechanism of parallel formation of paraffins and olefins. The model satisfactorily describes the experimental data on the dependence of the total rate of conversion of CO to hydrocarbons and the selectivity with respect to paraffins on the composition of the reaction mixture. It was shown that in the case of olefins the successive steps of their hydrogenation, which make a substantial contribution to the distribution of reaction products, must be taken into consideration.L. V. Pisarzhevskii Institute of Physical Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 31 Nauki Prospekt, Kiev 252039, Ukraine. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 118–123, March–April, 1996. Original article submitted May 22, 1995.