Selective catalytic oxidation of NH3 into N2 during biogas combustion over 2 wt%PdO/5 wt%CuO/γ-Al2O3

Abstract

This work consists in the study of catalysts likely to present a good activity in the combustion of the landfill biogas for its valorization and a high performance in the selective catalytic oxidation of NH3 to N2. In this study, biogas catalytic combustion was investigated on 2 wt%PdO/5 wt%CuO/γ-Al2O3 catalyst. This catalyst was prepared by wet impregnation than the catalytic reactivity was tested under atmospheric pressure using the following mixture: CH4 (1 vol%), CO2 (0.6 vol%), O2 (4 vol%), H2O (0.1 vol%), 1000 ppm NH3 and He with a total flow rate of 100 cm3 min−1 and compared with 2 wt%PdO/Al2O3 and 5 wt%CuO/Al2O3. Furthermore, these different catalysts were characterized by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, specific surface area analysis (BET), X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and H2 temperature-programmed reduction (H2-TPR). This study showed that 2 wt%PdO/5 wt%CuO/γ-Al2O3 catalyst exhibited a better performance towards the selective catalytic oxidation of NH3 into N2 compared to the other catalysts with a methane conversion corresponding to the best compromise in between.