The activities and selectivities of the supported cobalt catalysts for hydrogenation of carbon monoxide were investigated according to the variation of the metal loading, the degree of reduction, the support, and the preparation technique.
The degree of reduction did not show significant effect on the ratio of olefin to paraffin and the chain propagation probability, but the specific activity had a maximum value around 17% reduction over the 10wt% Co/γ-$Al_2O_3$ catalyst.
Over the Co/γ-$Al_2O_3$, the greater the metal loading, the more the higher hydrocarbons produced. The $Co/TiO_2$ catalyst produced more higher hydrocarbon and higher ratio of olefin to paraffin than Co/γ-$Al_2O_3$ catalysts.