Bifunctional Co/Al-SBA-15 Catalyst with Tunable Acidity for Selective Production of Aviation Fuel

Production of alternative, clean aviation fuel from biomass synthesis gas via Fischer–Tropsch (FT) synthesis has attracted much attention. In this paper, Al-SBA-15 supported cobalt catalysts with different Al/Si ratios were successfully prepared for the production of aviation fuel by FT synthesis. The physical and acidic properties of the Co/Al-SBA-15 catalysts were characterized by XRF, XRD, N2 adsorption–desorption, TEM, H2-TPR, 27Al NMR, NH3-TPD, and Py-FTIR. The formation of long-chain hydrocarbons was inhibited by the ordered mesoporous structure. Fischer–Tropsch activity and selectivity were demonstrated to be affected by the acidity of the Al-SBA-15 supports. The selectivity turned to lighter iso-paraffin products. Co-based catalyst with Al/Si ratio of 0.01 exhibited the highest selectivity (52.4%) for aviation fuel (C8–C18 products) and much higher ratio of iso-paraffin/normal-paraffin (iso/n) (20.2%). This study might provide useful information for the selective production of aviation fuel via FT synthesis.