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Fischer–Tropsch synthesis

A century-old reaction finds its rhythm

Nature Chemical Engineering volume 2, page 730 (2025)Cite this article

One potential approach to achieving a more fundamental understanding of the Fischer–Tropsch process is to examine its behavior outside the steady-state regime. Self-sustained oscillations have, in particular, become increasingly relevant to dynamic catalyst design, where deliberately making use of or controlling non-equilibrium states is emerging as an adopted strategy to optimize reaction network pathways.

While fully settling the underlying reaction mechanism remains an active area of research to this day, this retrospective piece highlights work by Yong Wang, Norbert Kruse and co-workers, reported in Science in 2023, on the emergence of self-sustaining, non-isothermal oscillations in the Fischer–Tropsch reaction rate and selectivity that persisted for many hours (>24 hours) over a Co/Ce-oxide powder catalyst (R. Zhang et al. Science 382, 99–103; 2023).

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  1. Nature Chemical Engineering https://www.nature.com/natchemeng/

    Thomas Dursch

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  1. Thomas Dursch
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Correspondence to Thomas Dursch.

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Dursch, T. A century-old reaction finds its rhythm. Nat Chem Eng 2, 730 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-025-00346-z

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