Improvement of Cu-SAPO-34 hydrothermal stability by tuning P/Al ratio for selective catalytic reduction of NO by NH3

Abstract

Cu-SAPO-34 is a promising catalyst for abatement of NO via selective catalytic reduction with NH3 (NH3-SCR), but its hydrothermal stability needs to be enhanced. In this work, the Cu-SAPO-34 catalysts with different P/Al ratios of 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2 were prepared, and the temperature window with NO conversion >90% (T90) for all catalysts were similar (160–570 °C). The T90 of Cu-SAPO-34 with P/Al of 0.8 dramatically decreased (220–470 °C) after hydrothermal treatment, and interestingly, the catalysts with high P/Al ratios (1.0 and 1.2) remained high activity. The T90 of the aged catalysts with P/Al of 1.2 was 155–525 °C. The characterizations showed that the increase of P/Al ratio not only enhanced the crystallinity but also enlarged the grain size of catalysts, which were conducive to the zeolite framework stability. Moreover, the Cu-SAPO-34 with large grain size facilitated the conversion of CuO to isolated Cu2+ ions as well as inhibited the aggregation of Cu species. Furthermore, the large grain sized catalysts provided more acid sites, and thus, the catalysts presented excellent hydrothermal stability. In situ DRIFTS analysis confirmed the existence of both Langmuir-Hinshelwood and Eley-Rideal pathway over the catalyst with a P/Al ratio of 1.2. This work provided a facile method to promote the hydrothermal stability of Cu-based zeolite catalysts.