Twenty-five Years of Synthesis of Gasoline by Catalytic Conversion of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the important steps of research work on the reactions of carbon monoxide and hydrogen with special consideration regarding the behavior of the catalysts necessary to carry out the reactions. The assumption that carbides are intermediate products of the synthesis is not probable, at least in so far as the bulk carbide, which can be identified by thermomagnetic investigations. The greatest part of the results, however, cannot be recognized as satisfactory proof against the carbide theory if only small parts of an irregular catalyst surface were involved in the reactions. A comparison of the behavior of the different catalysts seems to be useful. The optimum conditions of pressure and temperature for hydrocarbon synthesis on nickel, cobalt, iron, and ruthenium are close to the conditions at which, formation of carbonyls and carbonyl hydrogen compounds can be detected. Pressure requirements for the catalytic synthesis and for carbonyl formation appear to be closely parallel in the case of metallic catalysts.