Oana Mihai

The Effect of NO2/NOx Feed Ratio on the NH3-SCR System Over Cu–Zeolites with Varying Copper Loading

In this study we examine the NO/NO2–NH3-SCR system over Cu–BEA with varying Cu loading. Significantly higher selective catalytic reduction (SCR) activity is observed at low temperature on highly loaded copper samples, whereas the reverse trend is noticed at high temperature. The N2O formation is substantially increased over “over-exchanged” Cu sites, where Cu co-ordinate to one Al and charge-balanced with one OH-group. This is also the case for NO2 reaction with NH3 to produce NO. Using transient experiments the formation/decomposition of ammonium nitrate species are examined. The decomposition depends on the temperature, the sequence of the feed as well as the type of copper species present.Graphical Abstract

The effect of soot on ammonium nitrate species and NO2 selective catalytic reduction over Cu-zeolite catalyst-coated particulate filter

A selective catalytic reduction (SCR)-coated particulate filter was evaluated by means of dynamic tests performed using NH3, NO2, O2 and H2O. The reactions were examined both prior to and after soot removal in order to study the effect of soot on ammonium nitrate formation and decomposition, ammonia storage and NO2 SCR. A slightly larger ammonia storage capacity was observed when soot was present in the sample, which indicated that small amounts of ammonia can adsorb on the soot. Feeding of NO2 and NH3 in the presence of O2 and H2O at low temperature (150, 175 and 200°C) leads to a large formation of ammonium nitrate species and during the subsequent temperature ramp using H2O and argon, a production of nitrous oxides was observed. The N2O formation is often related to ammonium nitrate decomposition, and our results showed that the N2O formation was clearly decreased by the presence of soot. We therefore propose that in the presence of soot, there are fewer ammonium nitrate species on the surface due to the interactions with the soot. Indeed, we do observe CO2 production during the reaction conditions also at 150°C, which shows that there is a reaction with these species and soot. In addition, the conversion of NOx due to NO2 SCR was significantly enhanced in the presence of soot; we attribute this to the smaller amount of ammonium nitrate species present in the experiments where soot is available since it is well known that ammonium nitrate formation is a major problem at low temperature due to the blocking of the catalytic sites. Further, a scanning electron microscopy analysis of the soot particles shows that they are about 30–40 nm and are therefore too large to enter the pores of the zeolites. There are likely CuxOy or other copper species available on the outside of the zeolite crystallites, which could have been enhanced due to the hydrothermal treatment at 850°C of the SCR-coated filter prior to the soot loading. We therefore propose that soot is interacting with the ammonium nitrate species on the CuxOy or other copper species on the surface of the zeolite particles, which reduces the ammonium nitrate blocking of the catalyst and thereby results in higher NO2 SCR activity.

The effect of water on methane oxidation over Pd/Al2O3 under lean, stoichiometric and rich conditions

In this study, the effect of oxygen concentration and the presence of water on methane oxidation were examined over a Pd/Al2O3 catalyst. The physicochemical properties of the catalyst were investigated in detail using BET, XRD, STEM, O2-TPO and CH4-TPR. Ramping experiments from 150 to 700 °C were conducted using rich, stoichiometric and lean gas mixtures in the absence and presence of water. It was found that increasing the oxygen concentration in a dry atmosphere resulted in higher methane oxidation activity, which can be connected to the facilitation of palladium oxide formation. The TPO data showed that only minor amounts of PdO up to 700 °C were decomposed; however, in the stoichiometric and rich reaction mixture, PdO was still decomposed because of the oxygen limitation. This fact resulted in a “negative activation” during cooling, with increased activity because of palladium re-oxidation. Moreover, methane steam reforming and water gas shift reactions were important reactions under rich conditions over the metallic palladium sites. A significant inhibiting effect of water on the Pd-catalyst with loss of methane activity was found. Interestingly, the inhibition effect was much greater using high oxygen concentration in the gas mixture (500 ppm CH4, 8% O2, 5% H2O) than that at lower oxygen levels (800–1200 ppm) and we propose that the hydroxyl species formation, which blocks the active sites, are facilitated by a large oxygen excess. In addition, the re-oxidation of palladium occurring during the cooling ramp in dry feed using rich and stoichiometric gas mixtures was also significantly suppressed in the presence of a large amount of water. Thus, water impedes the oxidation of palladium, which significantly deactivates the Pd catalyst.