Iron carbide hexagonal catalyst

Merkel (49) in iron precipitation catalysts by magnetochemical investigations. The conversion of the hexagonal Fe2C to Hagg s Fe2C is irreversible. Small amounts of copper stabilize the hexagonal iron carbide and raise the conversion temperature 50-100°C. (50). 

The identification of catalytically active species in FTS is of fundamental importance, as an improved understanding could enable the development of catalysts with increased activity and selectivity. In cobalt- and ruthenium-catalysed FTS, metallic cobalt and ruthenium function as active catalysts. However, in iron-catalysed FTS there are several distinct species generated during the reaction. Due to the lower, or similar, activation energy for iron carbide formation in comparison to carbon monoxide hydrogenation, iron-carbide formation is typically observed in FTS. The formation of several iron-carbide phases have been observed -Fe2C/8 -Fe2.2C (hexagonal... 

Lefebvre and LeClerc (36) carried out thermodynamic studies on catalysts of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. They drew attention to the significance of the specific Curie points, of various compounds, for their activity or inactivity as catalysts. They assumed that the active catalysts were cubic iron oxide and hexagonal nickel. Pichler and Merkel (37) found that the Curie point attributed by Lefebvre and LeClerc to cubic iron oxide is actually the Curie point of one special form of Fe2C. The hexagonal nickel seems to be actually a nickel carbide. 

In the case of iron catalysts, x-ray and thermomagnetic investigations confirm the work of Pichler and Merkel and show that the Fe2C with the Curie point 265°C. of Pichler and Merkel is identical with Hagg s carbide. Hofer, Cohn, and Peebles found the inflection point of the thermomagnetic curve at 247°C. The Fe2C with the Curie point 380°C. of Pichler and Merkel seems identical to a hexagonal carbide identified independently in the research laboratories of I. G. Farbenindustrie by work of Halle and Herbst (90). 

Halle and Herbst obtained a hexagonal carbide by carburization of iron-copper catalysts, and later also by carburization of copper-free catalysts (reduction and carburization at low temperatures). The x-ray pattern is not identical to that described by Hagg. On the basis of their x-ray investigations Hofer, Cohn, and Peebles believe that the carbide of Halle and Herbst is identical to the Fe2C carbide with a Curie point at 380°C. of Pichler and Merkel (see Sec. III.4.d). 

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