A K promoted iron-manganese catalyst was prepared by sol-gel method, and subsequently was tested for hydrogenation of carbon monoxide to light olefins. The kinetic experiments on a well-characterized Fe-Mn/K/Al2O3 catalyst were performed in a fixed-bed micro-reactor in a temperature range of 280-380 degrees C, pressure range of 0.1-1.2 MPa, H-2/CO feed molar ratio range of 1-2.1 and a space velocity range of 2000-7200 h(-1). Considering the mechanism of the process and Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hogan-Watson (LHHW) approach, unassisted CO dissociation and H-assisted CO dissociation mechanisms were defined. The best models were obtained using non-linear regression analysis and Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. Consequently, 4 models were considered as the preferred models based on the carbide mechanism. Finally, a model was proposed as a best model that assumed the following kinetically relevant steps in the iron-Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis: (1) CO dissociation occurred without hydrogen interaction and was not a rate-limiting step; (2) the first hydrogen addition to surface carbon was the rate-determining steps. The activation energy and adsorption enthalpy were calculated 40.0 and -30.2 kJ center dot mol(-1), respectively.