Meet Kang Cheng, now a Full Professor at Xiamen University, who completed his PhD on “Novel Fischer–Tropsch Catalysts Based on Mesoporous Zeolites and Carbon Materials for the Production of Gasoline‑range Hydrocarbons and Lower Olefins.”

During his doctoral research, Prof. Kang focused on advancing catalyst design for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis and syngas conversion under industrially relevant, high‑temperature and high‑pressure conditions.

PhD Research Overview

Kang’s PhD research addressed the inherent selectivity challenges of Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, where complex product distributions are constrained by the Anderson–Schulz–Flory mechanism.

His work explored two complementary strategies:

• The design of bifunctional catalysts, combining hydrogenation metals with acidic zeolites to achieve high gasoline‑range selectivity, and the optimisation of catalyst supports and alkaline promotion on iron‑based systems for lower‑olefin synthesis.

These strategies contributed to a deeper understanding of catalyst structure–performance relationships for both CO and CO₂ hydrogenation under realistic operating conditions.

Flowrence® in His Research

The Flowrence® high-throughput unit significantly accelerated their work in screening bifunctional catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. In a typical fixed-bed setup, evaluating the effects of zeolite topology, mesoporosity, metal loading, and reaction conditions would have taken months. With Flowrence’s 16-parallel reactor configuration, they systematically screened more than 200 catalysts under high-temperature, high-pressure conditions in a single experimental campaign. This enabled rapid identification of optimal catalyst formulations and allowed them quickly establish structure-performance relationships that would have otherwise required extensive sequential testing.

The system’s exceptional reproducibility enabled reliable comparison of catalyst performance under demanding fixed-bed conditions, eliminating experimental variability as a confounding factor. Combined with user-friendly operation and efficient data processing, Flowrence significantly accelerated their screening of selective catalysts for syngas conversion.

Using the Flowrence high‑throughput system, we were able to screen more than 200 catalysts under high‑temperature, high‑pressure conditions in a single experimental campaign that would otherwise have taken months.

Prof. Kang Cheng – Xiamen University

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