Catalyst treatment

1. A method of preparing a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst for handling, storage, transport and deployment, the method comprising the steps of:

impregnating an initial support material comprising alumina with a source of a divalent metal capable of forming a spinel phase with alumina to form a porous support material having a spinel phase;

drying the porous support material;

calcining the porous support material at a temperature reaching at least 1000° C.;

impregnating the porous support material with a source of cobalt as a catalytically active material to produce an impregnated support material;

calcining the impregnated support material to produce a calcined impregnated support material;

activating the calcined impregnated support material with a reducing gas comprising hydrogen at a temperature up to 500° C. to reduce a substantial portion of the cobalt present to the metal to produce an activated catalyst; and

passivating the activated catalyst with an oxidizing gas for a period of time sufficient to create a protective layer of oxide on the surface of the catalyst to produce a passivated catalyst.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising re-activating and deploying the passivated catalyst.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the passivated catalyst is first re-activated, then deployed by loading the re-activated catalyst into a reactor.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the passivated catalyst is deployed by loading it into a reactor and then re-activated in situ in the reactor.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the initial activation and passivation steps are carried out at a first location, the passivated catalyst is transported to a second location, and the re-activation is carried out at the second location.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the passivated catalyst is stored at the first and/or second location.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the impregnation step comprises an incipient wetness treatment, wherein an aqueous solution of cobalt as the catalytically active material is mixed with the porous support material until the pores are filled, and the impregnated support is then dried.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the activation step comprises treating the impregnated support material with a hydrogen-containing gas at a holding temperature in the range 300 to 500° C.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein during the activation step, the temperature is raised at a rate in the range 0.5 to 5° C. per minute and held at the holding temperature for a time in the range 0.3 to 3 hours.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passivated catalyst is re-activated by treatment with a reducing gas at a temperature in the range 150 to 450° C. for a period in the range 0.2 to 10 hours.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the re-activation is carried out in an F-T synthesis reactor with a synthesis gas, the synthesis gas enriched in hydrogen.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the F-T synthesis reactor is a slurry reactor.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the re-activation is carried out in a vessel separate from an F-T synthesis reactor.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous support material predominantly comprises γ-alumina.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the initial alumina support material has a specific surface area in the range 100 to 400 m 2 /g and a pore volume greater than 0.2 cm 3 /g.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the divalent metal is selected from Ni, Mg and Zn.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the source of cobalt as the catalytically active material is selected from cobalt nitrate (Co(No 3 ) 2 ), cobalt acetate(s), cobalt halide(s), cobalt carbonyl(s), cobalt oxalate(s), cobalt phosphate(s), cobalt carbonate(s), cobalt (hexa)amine salt(s) and organic cobalt compounds.

18. A supported catalyst produced by the method of claim 1 .

19. The catalyst of claim 18 , wherein the cobalt content of the catalyst from 10 to 40% by weight.

20. A method of preparing and deploying a catalyst, the method comprising the steps of:

impregnating an initial support material comprising alumina with a source of a divalent metal capable of forming a spinel phase with alumina to form a porous support material having a spinel phase;

drying the porous support material;

calcining the porous support material at a temperature reaching at least 1000° C.;

impregnating the porous support material with a source of catalytically active material to produce a impregnated support material;

activating the impregnated support material with a reducing gas at a temperature up to 600° C. to produce an activated catalyst;

passivating the activated catalyst at a first location by treating the activated catalyst with an oxidizing gas thereby forming an oxide layer on the surface of the catalyst to produce a passivated catalyst;

transporting the passivated catalyst to a second location; and

re-activating the passivated catalyst to produce a re-activated catalyst and loading the re-activated catalyst into a reactor at the second location.

21. A process for the production of hydrocarbons, comprising:

impregnating an initial support material comprising alumina with a source of a divalent metal capable of forming a spinel phase with alumina to form a porous support material having a spinel phase;

drying the porous support material;

calcining the porous support material at a temperature reaching at least 1000° C.;

impregnating the porous support material with a source of cobalt as a catalytically active material to produce an impregnated support material;

calcining the impregnated support material to produce a calcined impregnated support material;

activating the calcined impregnated support material with a reducing gas at a temperature up to 500° C. to produce an activated catalyst;

passivating the activated catalyst to produce a passivated catalyst; and

subjecting H 2 and CO gases to a Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction in a three-phase reactor in the presence of the passivated catalyst.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the Fischer-Tropsch reaction is a three-phase reaction in which the reactants are gaseous, the product is at least partially liquid and the catalyst is solid.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction is carried out in a slurry bubble column reactor.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein the H 2 and CO gases are supplied to a slurry in the three-phase reactor, the slurry comprising the catalyst in suspension in a liquid including the reaction products of the H 2 and CO gases, the catalyst being maintained in suspension in the slurry at least partly by the motion of the gas supplied to the slurry.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein a reaction temperature of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction is in the range 190 to 260° C.

26. The method of claim 21 , wherein a reaction pressure of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction is in the range 10 to 60 bar.

27. The method of claim 21 , wherein an H 2 /CO ratio of the H 2 and CO gases supplied to the three-phase reactor is in the range 1.0 to 2.2.

28. The method of claim 21 , wherein a superficial gas velocity in the three-phase reactor is in the range 5 to 60 cm/s.

29. The method of claim 21 , wherein the product of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction is subsequently subjected to post-processing.

30. The method of claim 29 , wherein the post-processing is selected from filtration, de-waxing, hydro-isomerization, hydro-cracking and combinations thereof.

31. A method of preparing a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst for handling, storage, transport and deployment, the method comprising the steps of:

impregnating an initial support material comprising alumina with a source of a divalent metal capable of forming a spinel phase with alumina to form a porous support material having a spinel formed with the alumina;

drying the porous support material;

calcining the porous support material at a temperature reaching at least 1000° C.;

impregnating the porous support material with a source of cobalt as a catalytically active material to produce an impregnated support material;

calcining the impregnated support material to produce a calcined impregnated support material;

activating the calcined impregnated support material with a reducing gas at a temperature up to 500° C. to produce an activated catalyst; and

passivating the activated catalyst to produce a passivated catalyst.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein the activation step comprises reduction of a substantial portion of the cobalt present to the metal.

33. The method of claim 31 , wherein the reducing gas used in the activation step comprises hydrogen.

34. The method of claim 31 , wherein the passivation step comprises treating the activated catalyst with an oxidizing gas for a period of time sufficient to create a protective layer of oxide on the surface of the catalyst.

35. The method of claim 34 , wherein the oxidizing gas comprises oxygen or air.

36. The method of claim 34 , wherein the oxidizing gas comprises from 0.2 to 5.0% oxygen in nitrogen, and the treatment is conducted at a temperature in the range 20 to 300° C. for a period in the range 0.1 to 2 hours.