Comparative Study of the Support Role on the Activity of Copper Species for Nitric Oxide Reduction

Abstract

In this work three different supports (γ-Al₂O₃, ZSM-5, and SAPO-34) of varying degree of acid sites and textural properties were used to evaluate the influence of support specifics in the Cu/supported nanocatalysts on NO conversion. The nanocatalysts were prepared by homogeneous deposition precipitation (HDP) method and characterized by N₂ pore size distribution, TEM, H₂-TPR for investigation the reducibility of the copper species and acidity measurement by NH₃ adsorption. The Cu/ZSM-5 and Cu/SAPO-34 catalysts were more active for NO conversion than Cu/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst. The characterization and conversion differences in the copper supported on different types of support indicated that these differences arise from the differences in surface area, pore size distribution, and acidity of the supports. The higher SCR-DeNO activity of Cu/ZSM-5 and Cu/SAPO-34 nano-catalysts can be explained by higher surface area and acidity of ZSM-5 and SAPO-34 supports. These catalysts also have larger amount of reducible Cu species compared to Cu/γ-Al₂O₃ which correlates with the structure of the support used. Considering these findings, the NO conversion ability of Cu/supported catalysts has been correlated with support structure and acidity.