Highly dispersed CoO on graphitic mesoporous carbon as an efficient catalyst for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis

Mesoporous carbon (MC) supports with different degrees of graphitization are prepared via the pyrolysis of Furfuryl alcohol with SBA-16 as the hard template. The Co/MC-x catalysts (where x = 800, 1100, or 1300, representing carbonization temperatures of 800, 1100, or 1300 °C, respectively) are prepared by incipient impregnation methods and thermally calcined under N2 atmosphere. The degree of graphitization has a great impact on both the structure and performance of the catalysts. MC enriched with functional groups (e.g., COOH and COH) generates strong interactions with Co species during the preparation process, forming a highly dispersed CoO phase with an average particle size of 5–6 nm confined on the supports. All Co/MC-x catalysts exhibit high stability and the Co/MC-1300 catalyst with improved cobalt reducibility and relatively large pores shows an activity 2.5 times higher than that of the Co/MC-800 catalyst and 74% selectivity for C5+ products.