Review of Iron-Based Catalysts for Carbon Dioxide Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis

Abstract

Capturing and utilizing CO₂ from the production process is the key to solving the excessive CO₂ emission problem. CO₂ hydrogenation with green hydrogen to produce olefins is an effective and promising way to utilize CO₂ and produce valuable chemicals. The olefins can be produced by CO₂ hydrogenation through two routes, i.e., CO₂-FTS (carbon dioxide Fischer–Tropsch synthesis) and MeOH (methanol-mediated), among which CO₂-FTS has significant advantages over MeOH in practical applications due to its relatively high CO₂ conversion and low energy consumption potentials. However, the CO₂-FTS faces challenges of difficult CO₂ activation and low olefins selectivity. Iron-based catalysts are promising for CO₂-FTS due to their dual functionality of catalyzing RWGS and CO-FTS reactions. This review summarizes the recent progress on iron-based catalysts for CO₂ hydrogenation via the FTS route and analyzes the catalyst optimization from the perspectives of additives, active sites, and reaction mechanisms. Furthermore, we also outline principles and challenges for rational design of high-performance CO₂-FTS catalysts.

Keywords

CO₂ hydrogenation / Olefins / CO₂-FTS / Iron-based catalysts

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