Abstract
Cu–Zn/γ–Al2O3 catalysts were prepared by the impregnation method. Catalytic activity was evaluated for N2O decomposition in a fixed bed reactor. The fresh and used catalysts were characterized by several techniques such as BET surface area, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The Cu–Zn/γ–Al2O3 catalysts exhibit high activity and stability for N2O decomposition in mixtures simulating real gas from adipic acid production, containing N2O, O2, NO, CO2, and CO. Over the Cu–Zn/γ–Al2O3 catalysts, 100% of N2O conversion was obtained at about 601 °C at a gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 7200 h−1. Cu–Zn/γ–Al2O3 catalysts also exhibited considerably good durability, and no obvious activity loss was observed in the 100 h stability test. The Cu–Zn/γ–Al2O3 catalysts are promising for the abatement of this powerful greenhouse gas in the chemical industry, particularly in adipic acid production.
Highlights
Environmental issues such as global warming and ozone layer depletion are of universal concern
Nitrous oxide (N2 O) has a lifetime of 114–130 years under atmospheric conditions, and the global warming potential (GWP) of nitrous oxide is about 310 times of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) [6]
A large number of catalysts, such as supported noble metals, pure and mixed oxides, and zeolite-based catalysts have been evaluated for N2 O decomposition reaction [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]
Summary
Environmental issues such as global warming and ozone layer depletion are of universal concern. Noble metal-based catalysts exhibit satisfactory activity at intermediate temperatures [22,23] Their high cost represents an important obstacle towards practical applications. Attempts have been made to provide a catalyst for decomposition N2 O, and the catalyst has a thermal stability at high temperature. The development of the catalyst should always be consistent with the special characteristics of the pollutant’s source, and is not limited by the low temperature catalytic performance [24]. It is an object of the present research to provide a catalyst for N2 O catalytic decomposition, which is thermally stable at elevated temperatures. The stability of Cu–Zn/γ–Al2 O3 catalysts for long term use in high temperatures was investigated
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