【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】From 2794 to 2025, Chinese scientists have overcome the challenge of high carbon emissions in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, enabling this century-old process to be revitalized with lower carbon footprints

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Let’s give praise and encouragement to the achievements made in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment; your participation in discussions is the greatest encouragement. **********************【Ten Years of Great Progress in Chemical Engineering Equipment】Regular updates and summaries are available – feel free to join the discussions: https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html ***************** Chinese scientists have overcome the problem of high carbon emissions in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process, enabling this century-old technique to be utilized in a low-carbon manner. Professor Wen Xiaodong and Liu Xingwu from the Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with Professor Martin’s team from Peking University, have achieved breakthrough results in addressing this issue. These findings were published online in the journal Science on the evening of October 30th. The Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is an important catalytic reaction technique in the chemical industry, primarily used to convert syngas (a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) into high-value chemicals such as liquid fuels or olefins. The Fischer-Tropsch synthesis plays a key role in the production of oils and high-value chemicals from carbon sources such as coal, natural gas, and biomass. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis primarily uses iron-based catalysts, which offer advantages such as low cost and high space-time yield of oil products; these catalysts account for more than two-thirds of the global Fischer-Tropsch synthesis capacity. The biggest drawback of iron-based catalysts for the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is the large amount of carbon dioxide generated during the reaction process, with a yield as high as 30%. This not only leads to waste of carbon resources but also contributes to the greenhouse effect due to high carbon emissions, which has resulted in increasing criticism in the context of the dual-carbon goals. For a long time, researchers have attempted to suppress CO2 formation through hydrophobic coating, carbon layer protection, or altering the catalytic phase, but they have encountered bottlenecks such as low conversion rates or insufficient product selectivity. How to achieve high activity, high olefin selectivity, and near-zero CO2 emissions under industrial conditions has long remained the unsolved \"Fischer-Tropsch century-old problem\" in the global catalysis community. Through long-term research, the research team led by Wen Xiaodong from the Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Professor Martin’s team from Peking University have discovered that in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction, introducing even trace amounts of halogen compounds at a concentration of one part per million (PPM) – such as methyl bromide and methyl iodide – into the reaction gases is sufficient to significantly alter the reaction behavior of iron-based catalysts. Studies show that when 20 ppm of CH3Br is co-fed, the CO2 selectivity decreases to