The effects of reaction conditions on the performance of an Fe-Mn catalyst for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) have been investigated in a continuous spinning basket reactor. Experiments were carried out under a wide range of industrially relevant reaction conditions including reaction temperature of 533-573 K, pressure of 0.93-2.96 MPa, inlet H-2/CO molar ratio of 0.80-2.50 and space velocity of (0.46-1.85) x 10(-3) Nm(3) kg(cat)(-1) s(-1). The selectivities to low molecular weight hydrocarbons basically increased with the increase of reaction temperature, total pressure and inlet H-2/CO ratio, except for ethylene. The FTS reaction rate and the overall oxygenates formation rate increased with increasing reaction temperature, pressure, space velocity and H-2/CO ratio on the whole. It was found that the catalyst has relatively high activity and selectivity in producing light alkenes. It also exhibited excellent stability during the 700 h run at H-2/CO ratio of 1.00, which indicates that the catalyst has good longevity and is suitable for syngas derived from coal with low H-2/CO ratio to produce light olefins and high-quality liquid fuels. Meanwhile, it may have potential promising applications in advanced stirred tank slurry reactors. In addition, the detailed investigation of ITS reaction performance for the Fe-Mn catalyst can provide full and accurate basic information for industrial scale-up. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.