The present invention relates to a process for conveniently preparing a supported cobalt-containing Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst having improved activity and selectivity for C.sub.5+hydrocarbons. In one aspect, the present invention provides a process for preparing a supported cobalt-containing Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst, said process comprising the steps of: (a) impregnating a support material with: i) a cobalt-containing compound and ii) acetic acid, or a manganese salt of acetic acid, in a single impregnation step to form an impregnated support material; and (b) drying and calcining the impregnated support material; wherein the support material impregnated in step (a) has not previously been modified with a source of metal other than cobalt; and wherein when the cobalt-containing compound is cobalt hydroxide, a manganese salt of acetic acid is not used in step (a) of the process.

The present invention relates to catalytically active material, comprising grains of non-graphitizing carbon with cobalt nanoparticles dispersed therein, wherein d.sub.p, the average diameter of cobalt nanoparticles in the non-graphitizing carbon grains, is in the range of 1 nm to 20 nm, D, the average distance between cobalt nanoparticles in the non-graphitizing carbon grains, is in the range of 2 nm to 150 nm, and ω, the combined total mass fraction of metal in the non-graphitizing carbon grains, is in the range of 30 wt % to 70 wt % of the total mass of the non-graphitizing carbon grains, and wherein d.sub.p, D and ω conform to the following relation: 4.5 d.sub.p/ω>D≥0.25 d.sub.p/ω. The present invention, further, relates to a process for the manufacture of material according to the invention, as well as its use as a catalyst.

A method to produce a fuel product such as jet fuel, diesel or single battlefield fuel from a Fischer Tropsch syncrude comprising the steps of: 1) Separating the HFTL product from the reactor effluent gasses at reactor temperature and partially cooling the reactor effluent gas before transferring it to the enhanced hot separator; 2) enhancing the hot separator downstream of the Fischer Tropsch reactor with trays or packing and also adding reflux of the LFTL product, to improve separation efficiency and substantially reduce the C16+ portion of the hydrocarbons in the LFTL product; 3) combining the HFTL and MFTL product to from a combined HFTL product and further processing the combined HFTL in a hydroprocessing reactor that has a stacked bed with a layer of hydrocracking catalyst to crack the waxy C20+ hydrocarbons and a layer of hydroisomerization catalyst to isomerize the light fraction to increase the iso to n-paraffin ratio of the hydroprocessed product; 4) the LFTL product that is not recycled to the hot separator as reflux, bypasses the hydroprocessing reactor and is blended with the hydroprocessed product before distillation; and 5) the combined raw LFTL product and the hydroprocessed product is distilled to make naphtha, a fuel product, and a baseoil product. The method may be modified to make a single fuel product, preferably a jet fuel product.

A process for the conversion of a feed comprising a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide to hydrocarbons, the hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the feed being present in a ratio of from 1:9 to 9:1 by volume, the process comprising the step of contacting the feed at elevated temperatures and atmospheric or elevated pressure with a catalyst comprising titanium dioxide and cobalt wherein the catalyst initially comprises from 30% to 95% metallic cobalt by weight of cobalt.

A method to produce a fuel product such as jet fuel, diesel or single battlefield fuel from a Fischer Tropsch syncrude comprising the steps of: 1) Separating the HFTL product from the reactor effluent gasses at reactor temperature and partially cooling the reactor effluent gas before transferring it to the enhanced hot separator; 2) enhancing the hot separator downstream of the Fischer Tropsch reactor with trays or packing and also adding reflux of the LFTL product, to improve separation efficiency and substantially reduce the C16+ portion of the hydrocarbons in the LFTL product; 3) combining the HFTL and MFTL product to from a combined HFTL product and further processing the combined HFTL in a hydroprocessing reactor that has a stacked bed with a layer of hydrocracking catalyst to crack the waxy C20+ hydrocarbons and a layer of hydroisomerization catalyst to isomerize the light fraction to increase the iso to n-paraffin ratio of the hydroprocessed product; 4) the LFTL product that is not recycled to the hot separator as reflux, bypasses the hydroprocessing reactor and is blended with the hydroprocessed product before distillation; and 5) the combined raw LFTL product and the hydroprocessed product is distilled to make naphtha, a fuel product, and a baseoil product. The method may be modified to make a single fuel product, preferably a jet fuel product.

Disclosed is a method for directly synthesizing monocyclic aromatic compounds and long-chain olefin compounds from a carbon dioxide-rich synthetic gas and, specifically, a method for directly synthesizing monocyclic aromatic compounds and long-chain olefin compounds from a carbon dioxide-rich synthetic gas, the method comprising a step of preparing a C.sub.1-C.sub.15 short-chain hydrocarbon by Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis and a step of preparing monocyclic aromatic compounds and long-chain olefin compounds by dehydrogenating the short-chain hydrocarbon products, and maximizing the yield of the short-chain hydrocarbon by using, as a synthetic gas to be used in FT synthesis, a carbon dioxide-rich synthetic gas in which the molar ratio of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide is delimited to a specific range, and maximizing the yield of the monocyclic aromatic compounds or the long-chain olefin compounds by specifying the composition of a catalyst to be used in the dehydrogenation and the temperature and pressure condition.

The invention relates to a method for preparing a catalyst or catalyst precursor comprising a catalytically active material and a carrier material. The invention relates to a catalyst particle and catalyst precursor thereof obtainable by said method. The catalyst may be used in a process for synthesising hydrocarbons.

A process synthesizes C.sub.5 and higher hydrocarbons from natural gas through intermediate conversion of natural gas to synthesis gas and subsequent conversion of CO and H.sub.2 by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The process includes steam reforming of natural gas in a steam reforming reactor to form synthesis gas, separating carbon dioxide from the synthesis gas by a liquid absorption method to a residual carbon dioxide content in the synthesis gas no more than 5 vol. %, separating an excess of hydrogen from the synthesis gas by a hydrogen-permeable membrane apparatus to a H.sub.2:CO molar ratio in the range of 1.9 to 2.3 and synthesizing liquid hydrocarbon from the synthesis gas by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.

A process for producing a Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst according to the present invention comprises a step of calcining a carrier precursor containing silica calcined at a temperature T.sub.1 and a zirconium compound at a temperature T.sub.2 to obtain a carrier; and a step of calcining a catalyst precursor containing the carrier and a cobalt compound and/or a ruthenium compound at a temperature T.sub.3, wherein the content of the zirconium compound in the carrier precursor is 0.01 to 7% by mass in terms of zirconium oxide based on the total mass of the catalyst, and T.sub.1, T.sub.2, and T.sub.3 satisfy conditions represented by expressions (1) to (3):
T.sub.1≧T.sub.3  (1)
250° C.≦T.sub.2≦450° C.  (2)
250° C.≦T.sub.3≦450° C.  (3).

The disclosed subject matter presents a catalyst or catalyst composition as well as the methods of making and using the catalyst or catalyst composition. In one aspect, the disclosed subject matter relates to a catalyst comprising CoMn.sub.aSi.sub.bX.sub.cY.sub.dO.sub.x wherein in X comprises an element from Group 11; Y comprises an element from Group 12; a ranges from 0.8 to 1.2; b ranges from 0.1 to 1; c ranges from 0.01 to 0.05; d ranges from 0.01 to 0.05; x is a number determined by the valency requirements of the other elements present; and wherein the catalyst converts synthesis gas to at least one olefin.