Affiliation: | aISMN-CNR via Ugo La Malfa, 153, 90146 Palermo, Italy bDipartimento di Chimica Inorganica e Analitica “Stanislao Cannizzaro”, Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Parco d’Orleans II - 90128 Palermo, Italy |
Abstract: | The influence of catalyst pre-treatment temperature (650 and 750 °C) and oxygen concentration (λ = 8 and 1) on the light-off temperature of methane combustion has been investigated over two composite oxides, Co3O4/CeO2 and Co3O4/CeO2–ZrO2 containing 30 wt.% of Co3O4. The catalytic materials prepared by the co-precipitation method were calcined at 650 °C for 5 h (fresh samples); a portion of them was further treated at 750 °C for 7 h, in a furnace in static air (aged samples). Tests of methane combustion were carried out on fresh and aged catalysts at two different WHSV values (12 000 and 60 000 mL g?1 h?1). The catalytic performance of Co3O4/CeO2 and Co3O4/CeO2–ZrO2 were compared with those of two pure Co3O4 oxides, a sample obtained by the precipitation method and a commercial reference. Characterization studies by X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET and temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) show that the catalytic activity is related to the dispersion of crystalline phases, Co3O4/CeO2 and Co3O4/CeO2–ZrO2 as well as to their reducibility. Particular attention was paid to the thermal stability of the Co3O4 phase in the temperature range of 750–800 °C, in both static (in a furnace) and dynamic conditions (continuous flow). The results indicate that the thermal stability of the phase Co3O4 heated up to 800 °C depends on the size of the cobalt oxide crystallites (fresh or aged samples) and on the oxygen content (excess λ = 8, stoichiometric λ = 1) in the reaction mixture. A stabilizing effect due to the presence of ceria or ceria–zirconia against Co3O4 decomposition into CoO was observed. Moreover, the role of ceria and ceria–zirconia is to maintain a good combustion activity of the cobalt composite oxides by dispersing the active phase Co3O4 and by promoting the reduction at low temperature. |