On December 4, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published online the latest research findings by SCMU’s Li Jinlin and Wang Li team in the field of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalysis. The paper, titled “Shielding the Hägg carbide by a graphene layer for ultrahigh carbon efficiency during syngas conversion”, developed a graphene-confined χ-Fe5C2 catalyst system that significantly reduced CO2 and CH4 by-product selectivity in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, dramatically improving carbon utilization efficiency from 50% to 90% (https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407624121). Zhang Xueqing, a 2024 doctoral student at the School of Chemistry and Materials Science, is the first author, with Dr. Li Zhe, Sun Wei (2024 doctoral student), and Senior Laboratory Technician Zhang Yuhua as co-authors. Professors Li Jinlin and Wang Li are the corresponding authors, with South-Central Minzu University as the sole affiliated institution.
Fischer-Tropsch synthesis technology, which has dominated the coal chemical industry for over a century, is one of the best routes for converting coal, natural gas, and biomass into clean liquid fuels and high-value chemicals through syngas. Iron-based Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalysts are widely used in industrial processes due to their low cost, adaptability to different syngas ratios and reaction conditions, and ability to produce low-carbon olefins, gasoline, diesel, and high-value oxygenates. However, under industrial reaction conditions, iron-based catalysts produce large amounts of CO2 (over 30%) and CH4 by-products, resulting in low carbon utilization efficiency and severely reducing energy and economic benefits. Effectively reducing these by-products and improving carbon utilization efficiency has been a major challenge in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis research and development.
Building upon their previously developed graphene-confined ε-Fe2C catalyst system (Nature Communications, 2020, 11, 6219), the team constructed a graphene-confined χ-Fe5C2 catalyst system. Through graphene confinement, they not only enhanced the stability of χ-Fe5C2 under industrial Fischer-Tropsch synthesis conditions and suppressed catalyst oxidation by H2O products but also inhibited the water-gas shift reaction. This significantly reduced CO2 (4.6%) and CH4 (5.9%) by-product selectivity, substantially increasing carbon utilization efficiency to 90%. This research provides an effective method for elucidating the structure-activity relationship of iron-based catalyst active phases and developing industrial iron-based Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalysts with high activity, stability, and carbon utilization efficiency.
Paper details. Photo provided by School of Chemistry and Materials Science
The Li Jinlin and Wang Li team has long been dedicated to fundamental research and industrial application development in C1 catalytic conversion technology. They have published over 200 high-level research papers, obtained more than 20 Chinese invention patents, and successfully applied their efficient Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalysts in thousand-ton-level coal and natural gas synthetic oil pilot plants and ten-thousand-ton-level biomass synthetic oil commercial demonstration facilities.
This research was supported by the National Key R&D Program (2022YFB4101200), National Natural Science Foundation of China (22072184, 22372199, U22A20394), and the Hubei Province Outstanding Young Talent Program.
PNAS, established in 1914, is one of the world’s four most prestigious journals, publishing high-level frontier research reports, academic reviews, disciplinary overviews, and academic papers in medicine, chemistry, biology, physics, atmospheric science, ecology, and social sciences.
