The investigation of the efficient replaceable microreactor into the catalytic decomposition of N2O over Pd/anodic γ-Al2O3 /Al

Abstract

A novel replaceable microreactor was designed to investigate the catalytic decomposition of nitrous oxide. The replaceable microchannel plate was coated using 1wt.% Pd/anodic γ-Al2O3. The anodization method was adopted to prepare the anodic γ-Al2O3 on the aluminum microchannel plate. Palladium was loaded on anodic γ-Al2O3 support by wet impregnation technique. The morphology, thickness, structure, reduction behavior, surface area, and the catalytic performance of the catalyst were characterized via field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), H2 temperature-programmed reduction (H2-TPR) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. The performance of the prepared catalyst into the replaceable microreactor was experimentally investigated through nitrous oxide decomposition reaction in the temperature range of 280-340 °C and various GHSV of 1000, 2000, and 3000 mL h−1 gcat−1. Complete conversion of N2O decomposition was achieved at the temperature of 340∘C, atmospheric pressure, and a GHSV of 1000 mL h−1gcat−1. The results indicated that Pd/anodic γ-Al2O3 catalyst is promising to eliminate the dangerous emissions of nitrous oxide greenhouse gas in the chemical industry via direct catalytic decomposition. Furthermore, the proposed elliptical replaceable microreactor is effective for complete N2O decomposition as it requires lower amounts of catalyst and energy compared to the other conventional reactors.