Thermal Processing Techniques to Improve Metal Sulfide Mixed Alcohol Catalyst Performance

Thermal history has been shown to be an important factor in the performance of bulk-precipitated alkali promoted cobalt molybdenum sulfide (K-CoMoSx) mixed alcohol catalysts. Sulfide catalyst precursors derived from ammonium tetrathiomolybdate were decomposed at various temperatures and dwell times, and with/without potassium promoters. When combined with temperature programmed decomposition studies, results suggested that precursors treated at milder conditions yielded more active and selective catalysts, in general. Precursors decomposed in the presence of alkali promoter yielded highly selective catalysts, with lower activity in general. X-ray diffraction showed important differences in materials decomposed with/without alkali promoter, but failed to provide correlations between catalyst morphology and performance in mixed alcohol synthesis.