Preparation of High Surface Area Ce/La/Cu and Ce/La/Ni Ternary Metal Oxides as Catalysts for the SO2 Reduction by CH4

Abstract

In this work, CeO2–La2O3–CuO and CeO2–La2O3–NiO catalysts were prepared based on the Taguchi L16 experimental design method. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by Scanning electron microscopy, BET, XRD, N2 adsorption isotherm, and BJH pore size distributions. The maximum obtained surface areas for these catalysts were 99.4 and 72.3 m2/g, respectively. The related average crystal size of the above catalysts from XRD tests was about 6.8 nm. The prepared optimum catalysts were tested for SO2 reduction by CH4. The SO2 conversion and sulfur yields at various temperatures were compared between optimized copper and nickel ternary oxide catalysts. The copper catalyst showed better performance at moderate temperatures, while at high temperatures the nickel catalyst exhibited better performance.