Catalysis

Gas to liquids

Engineering

Materials science

Fischer–Tropsch process

Waste management

Organic chemistry

Combustion

Process engineering

Chemistry

Selectivity

Liquid fuel

Nature Catalysis

To tune the product selectivity by controlling the complicated reaction path is a big challenge in Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. Here, we report an integrated catalytic process for the direct conversion of syngas (CO/H2) into different types of liquid fuels without subsequent hydrorefining post-treatments of Fischer–Tropsch waxes. Outstanding selectivities for gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel as high as 74, 72 and 58% are achieved, respectively, by only using mesoporous Y-type zeolites in combination with cobalt nanoparticles. The types of liquid fuels can be readily tuned by controlling the porosity and acid properties of the zeolites. We further build a new product-distribution model for the bifunctional catalysts, which do not obey the traditional Anderson–Schulz–Flory (ASF) distribution. The present work offers a simple and effective method for the direct synthesis of different types of liquid fuels. Post-synthesis refining of Fischer–Tropsch products is a costly but necessary step to adjust the selectivity of the process towards specific fuels. Now, a catalytic system based on a cobalt-loaded Y-type zeolite is reported that can be tuned to selectively produce gasoline, jet fuel or diesel fuel directly from syngas.

Integrated tuneable synthesis of liquid fuels via Fischer–Tropsch technology