Eco-friendly solid-state synthesis of Na-promoted Mn-Fe/ZrO2 catalyst for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

•Novel green solid state approach was developed for the synthesis of FTS catalysts.•The role of transition metals (Mn, Cu) and alkali (Na) on FTS catalytic performance of Fe/ZrO2 NPs is studied.•Na-Mn-Fe/ZrO2 showed the best catalytic activity (CO conversion = 90 % and C5+ = 67 %).•The catalysts were fully characterized to understand the structure-FTS catalytic relation.