Method for activating an iron-based fischer-tropsch catalyst

1. A method for reducing a generation of fine catalyst particles during activation of an iron-based catalyst precursor, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a slurry comprising an iron-based catalyst precursor in a liquid medium;

exposing said iron-based catalyst precursor to a synthesis gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a predetermined activation; and

diluting said synthesis gas with an inert gas during said activation period, thereby forming an inducting environment wherein catalyst fines caused by the transformation of iron oxides to iron carbides is reduced,

wherein an amount of said inert gas ranges from about 3 to about 4 times an amount of said synthesis gas.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of utilizing an activated catalyst at a temperature of about 255° C., a pressure of about 410 psia (about 2.8 MPaa), a space velocity of about 2.6 Nl/h/g cat, and a H2:CO ratio of about 0.7 to about 2, to achieve an activity in the range of 85% to 90% carbon monoxide conversion.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of utilizing an activated catalyst at a temperature of about 255° C., a pressure of about 410 psia (about 2.8 MPaa), a space velocity of about 2.6 Nl/h/g cat, and a H2:CO ratio of about 0.7 to about 2, to achieve a selectivity in the range of 0.83 to 0.85.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inert gas is selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, methane, and natural gas.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the iron-based catalyst precursor is unsupported.

6. A method for activating an iron-based catalyst precursor without a large amount of fines generation, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a Fischer-Tropsch slurry comprising iron-based catalyst precursor comprising hematite in a liquid medium;

exposing said iron-based catalyst precursor to a synthesis gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a predetermined activation period; and

slowing the transformation of the hematite in the iron-based catalyst precursor to iron carbides by reducing the partial pressure of the synthesis gas by inert gas dilution,

wherein a ratio of dilution gas to a sum of hydrogen and carbon monoxide ranges from about 3 to about 4.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said activation period is about three to about five hours.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein said hematite catalyst precursor comprises copper and potassium promoters.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the dilution gas is selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, methane, and natural gas.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein fines comprise catalyst fragments generally having a largest dimension less than about 10 microns.