Co/SiO2 and zirconium promoted Co/Zr/SiO2 catalysts were prepared by using dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) plasma instead of conventional thermal calcination method.Their Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) performance was evaluated in a fixed bed reactor.The results indicated that heavy hydrocarbon formation was promoted on Co/SiO2 catalyst treated by DBD plasma method compared with the conventional thermal calcination method.Besides,the CO conversion,C5+ selectivity and catalytic stability of FTS on Co/Zr/SiO2 catalyst treated by DBD plasma were further enhanced.In order to study the effect of DBD plasma as a catalyst treatment method on the FTS performance of catalyst,the catalyst was characterized by N2-physisorption,H2-temperature programed reduction,H2-temperature-programmed desorption and oxygen titration,transmission electron microscope and X-ray diffraction etc.Compared with the traditional method,the DBD method not only decreased the precursor decomposition time but also achieved an increased cobalt dispersion.