Preparation of Ni/bentonite catalyst and its applications in the catalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline

Ni supported on bentonite was prepared by the impregnation method with different nickel contents, applied to the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline in a fixed-bed reactor, and it was characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), H_2-temperature programmed reduction(H_2-TPR), and X-ray photoelectron spectrometry(XPS). The results showed that Ni/bentonite catalyst with 20 wt% nickel content provided a higher conversion of nitrobenzene and selectivity of aniline compared to other catalysts. Ni O was the precursor of the active component of the catalyst, and the small crystallite size as well as the highly dispersed Ni O on the Ni/bentonite-20 catalyst, contributed to the catalytic performance. The hydrogenation of nitrobenzene was carried out at 300 °C with a H_2 gaseous hourly space velocity of 4800 ml·(g cat)~(-1)·h~(-1)and a nitrobenzene liquid hourly space velocity of4.8 ml·(g cat)~(-1)·h~(-1)over Ni/bentonite-20. A 95.7% nitrobenzene conversion and 98.8% aniline selectivity were obtained. While the nitrobenzene liquid hourly space velocity was 4.8 ml·(g cat)~(-1)·h~(-1), the yield of aniline was more than 95.0% during a 10-hour reaction.     

废弃咖啡渣化学链气化反应特性

利用溶胶-凝胶法制备了以Fe₂O₃为活性组分,天然凹凸棒土(ATP)为惰性载体,KNO₃修饰的Fe4ATP6K1铁基复合载氧体。在高温流化床中考察了反应温度、水蒸气流量和O/C摩尔比对咖啡渣化学链气化过程的影响。结果表明,与以石英砂为床料的咖啡渣气化相比,以Fe4ATP6K1载氧体为床料的咖啡渣化学链气化对应的碳转化率由71.38%提高到86.25%。咖啡渣化学链气化的较优操作条件为:反应温度900℃、水蒸气量0.23 g·min^-1、O/C摩尔比1;在此操作条件下,合成气产量达到1.30 m³·kg^-1,氢气产量达到83.79 g·kg^-1,氢气的平均浓度达到52.75%。通过X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电镜-能谱(SEM-EDS)对900℃反应前后的Fe4ATP6K1进行表征,发现Fe相、K相、Si相可以发生相互作用,K以KFeSi₃O₈的形式存在于载氧体中,并且K在反应过程中有少量流失。20次氧化/还原过程中,铁基复合载氧体Fe4ATP6K1表现出较好的循环性能,碳转化率和冷煤气效率均保持在75%以上,各气体的平均浓度较稳定。     

Synthesis of spinel ferrite and its role in the removal of free fatty acids from deteriorated vegetable oil

Deterioration and loss of quality of vegetable oil is a big challenge in the food industry. This study investigated the synthesis of nickel ferrite (NiFe₂O₄) via co-precipitation method and its use for the removal of free fatty acids (FFAs) in deteriorated vegetable oil. NiFe₂O₄ was characterized using Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Synthesis of NiFe₂O₄ was confirmed by characterization, which revealed a BET surface area of 16.30 m²·g^-1 and crystallite size of 29 nm. NiFe₂O₄ exhibited an adsorption capacity of 145.20 L·kg^-1 towards FFAs with an 80.69% removal in a process, which obeys Langmuir isotherm and can be described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The process has enthalpy (ΔH) of 11.251 kJ·mol^-1 and entropy (ΔS) of 0.038 kJ·mol^-1·K^-1 with negative free energy change (ΔG), which suggests the process to be spontaneous and endothermic. The quantum chemical computation analysis via density functional theory further revealed the sorption mechanism of FFAs by NiFe₂O₄ occurred via donor–acceptor interaction, which may be described by the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO). The study showed NiFe₂O₄ to be a potential means that can remove FFAs from deteriorated vegetable oil.     

Using ultrasound to improve the sequential post-synthesis modification method for making mesoporous Y zeolites

Mesoporous Y zeolites were prepared by the sequential chemical dealumination (using chelating agents such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, H₄EDTA, and citric acid aqueous solutions) and alkaline desilication (using sodium hydroxide, NaOH, aqueous solutions) treatments. Specifically, the ultrasound-assisted alkaline treatment (i.e., ultrasonic treatment) was proposed as the alternative to conventional alkaline treatments which are performed under hydrothermal conditions. In comparison with the hydrothermal alkaline treatment, the ultrasonic treatment showed the comparatively enhanced efficiency (with the reduced treatment time, i.e., 5 min vs. 30 min, all with 0.2 mol·L⁻¹ NaOH at 65°C) in treating the dealuminated Y zeolites for creating mesoporosity. For example, after the treatment of a dealuminated zeolite Y (using 0.1 mol·L⁻¹ H₄EDTA at 100°C for 6 h), the ultrasonic treatment produced the mesoporous zeolite Y with the specific external surface area (S_external) of 160 m²·g⁻¹ and mesopore volume (V_meso) of 0.22 cm³·g⁻¹, being slightly higher than that by the conventional method (i.e., S_external = 128 m²·g⁻¹ and V_meso = 0.19 cm³·g⁻¹). The acidic property and catalytic activity (in catalytic cracking of n-octane) of mesoporous Y zeolites obtained by the two methods were comparable. The ultrasonic desilication treatment was found to be generic, also being effective to treat the dealuminated Y zeolites by citric acid. Additionally, the first step of chemical dealumination treatment was crucial to enable the effective creation of mesopores in the parent Y zeolite (with a silicon-to-aluminium ratio, Si/Al= 2.6) regardless of the subsequent alkaline desilication treatment (i.e., ultrasonic or hydrothermal). Therefore, appropriate selection of the condition of the chemical dealumination treatment based on the property of parent zeolites, such as Si/Al ratio and crystallinity, is important for making mesoporous zeolites effectively.     

Superb VOCs capture engineering carbon adsorbent derived from shaddock peel owning uncompromising thermal-stability and adsorption property

High applied thermal-stability and superior structural property for activated carbon adsorbent are extremely promising, which also is the determining short slab in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) adsorption applications. Herein, we develop the outstanding engineering carbon adsorbents from waste shaddock peel which affords greatly-enhanced thermal-stability and super structural property (S_Lang?=?4962.6?m²·g^-1, V_micro?=?1.67?cm³·g^-1). Such character endows the obtained adsorbent with ultrahigh adsorption capture performance of VOCs specific to benzene (16.58?mmol·g^-1) and toluene (15.50?mmol·g^-1), far beyond traditional zeolite and activated carbon even MOFs materials. The structural expression characters were accurately correlated with excellent adsorption efficiency of VOCs by studying synthetic factor-controlling comparative samples. Ulteriorly, adsorption selectivity prediction at different relative humidity was demonstrated through DIH (difference of the isosteric heats), exceedingly highlighting great superiority (nearly sixfold) in selective adsorption of toluene compared to volatile benzene. Our findings provide the possibility for practical industrial application and fabrication of waste biomass-derived outstanding biochar adsorbent in the environmental treatment of threatening VOCs pollutants.     

导向格栅规整填料萃取塔的操作性能

对一种新开发的导向格栅规整填料萃取塔的水力学特性和传质性能进行了系统的实验研究。结果表明,新型导向格栅填料萃取塔的通量比传统萃取塔有了大幅度的提高,当流速比L_R(分散相:连续相)为1:5时,液泛通量达到150 m³·m^-2·h^-1。该填料萃取塔同时具有较好的传质性能,在石油炼制溶剂脱沥青、煤化工废水萃取脱酚等工业过程有良好的应用前景。     

Cooperative effect between copper species and oxygen vacancy in Ce0.7−xZrxCu0.3O2 catalysts for carbon monoxide oxidation

The effects of Zr doping on the existence of Cu and the catalytic performance of Ce_0.7−xZr_xCu_0.3O₂ for CO oxidation were investigated. The characterization results showed that all samples have a cubic structure, and a small amount of Zr doping facilitates Cu²⁺ ions entering the CeO₂ lattice, but excessive Zr doping leads to the formation of surface CuO crystals again. Thus, the number of oxygen vacancies caused by the Cu²⁺ entering the lattice (e.g., Cu²⁺–□–Ce⁴⁺; □: oxygen vacancy), and the amount of reducible copper species caused by CuO crystals, varies with the Zr doping. Catalytic CO oxidation tests indicated that the oxygen vacancy and the reducible copper species were the adsorption and activation sites of O₂ and CO, respectively, and the cooperative effects between them accounted for the high CO oxidation activity. Thus, the samples x = 0.1 and 0.3, which possessed the most oxygen vacancy or reducible copper species, showed the best activity for CO oxidation, with full CO conversion obtained at 110 °C. The catalyst is also stable and has good resistance to water during the reaction.     

废弃活性炭化学链气化制富氢合成气

以废弃活性炭为原料,以Fe4ATP6复合载氧体为载氧体,在间歇高温流化床中考察了废弃活性炭化学链气化制富氢合成气反应的较优条件及复合载氧体的循环反应特性。结果表明,Fe4ATP6复合载氧体具有提供晶格氧及催化气化的双重作用,显著提高了碳转化率,促进了废弃活性炭气化过程,反应活性良好。废弃活性炭化学链气化制富氢合成气的优化反应条件：900℃、水蒸气流量为0.25 g·min^-1、OC/C比为1。在上述条件下,碳转化率达92.15%,合成气产量达1.20 L·g^-1,其中H₂产量为1.09 L·g^-1,平均浓度为55.30%。10次循环实验表明Fe4ATP6复合载氧体的反应活性略有降低,通过SEM、XRD分析载氧体的表面形貌、物质组成发现,载氧体反应后结构变化较大,粒径减小,生成了无反应活性的硅酸铁。     

Effect of macromolecular length on anisotropic scattering of light in an electric field

Light scattering by monodisperse solutions of rigid rod-like anisotropic macromolecules, with linear dimensions l of the order of incident wavelength λ, oriented in an external d.c. electric field, →E has been analysed. The relative variations δV^E_v, δH^E_v, δV^E_h, δH^E_h of the scattered light components are discussed for the three values [l/λ] = 1, 0·5, 2, and various reorientation parameters, p = [μE/kT] of the permanent dipole moment μ and q = [(₃ − ₁)E²/2kT] of the moment induced by the principal polarizabilities ₁ = ₂ ≠ ₃. The saturation orientation field strength has been calculated for certain macromolecules with the aim of determining their optical anisotropy numerically.     

离子液体修饰超顺磁性纳米颗粒用于青霉素G酰化酶固定化(英文)

Functionalized ionic liquids containing ethyoxyl groups were synthesized and immobilized on magnetic silica nanoparticles(MSNP) prepared by two steps,i.e.,Fe3O4 synthesis and silica shell growth on the surface.This magnetic nanoparticle supported ionic liquid(MNP-IL) were applied in the immobilization of penicillin G acylase(PGA).The MSNPs and MNP-ILs were characterized by the means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),transmission electron microscopy(TEM),and vibrating sample magnetometer(VSM).The results showed that the average size of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles and MSNPs were ~10 and ~90 nm,respectively.The saturation magnetizations of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles and MNP-ILs were 63.7 and 26.9 A?m2?kg?1,respectively.The MNP-IL was successfully applied in the immobilization of PGA.The maximum amount of loaded enzyme was about 209 mg?g?1(based on carrier),and the highest enzyme activity of immobilized PGA(based on ImPGA) was 261 U?g?1.Both the amount of loaded enzyme and the activity of ImPGA are at the same level of or higher than that in previous reports.After 10 consecutive operations,ImPGA still main-tained 62% of its initial activity,indicating the good recovery property of ImPGA activity.The ionic liquid modified magnetic particles integrate the magnetic properties of Fe3O4 and the structure-tunable properties of ionic liquids,and have extensive potential uses in protein immobilization and magnetic bioseparation.This work may open up a novel strategy to immobilize proteins by ionic liquids.     

Hydrophobic modification of SAPO-34 membranes for improvement of stability under wet condition

SAPO-34 zeolite membranes show high efficiency for CO₂/CH₄ separation but suffer from the reduction of separation performance when exposed to humid atmosphere. In this work, n-dodecyltrimethoxysilane (DTMS) was used to modify the hollow fibers supported SAPO-34 membranes to increase the external surface hydrophobicity and thus sustain their performance under moisture environment. The modified membranes were fully characterized. Their separation performance was extensively investigated in both dry and wet gaseous systems and compared with the un-modified ones. The un-modified SAPO-34 membrane exhibited a high separation selectivity of 160 and CO₂ permeance of 1.18×10^-6 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 for separation of dry CO₂/CH₄ at 298 K. However, its separation selectivity declined to 0.9 and the CO₂ permeance was only about 1.7×10^-8 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 for wet CO₂/CH₄ at same temperature. High temperature (e.g. 353 K) could reduce the effect of moisture to improve SAPO-34 separation selectivity, but further increasing temperature (e.g. 373 K) led to decrease in CO₂/CH₄ separation selectivity. A significant decrease of selectivity was observed at higher pressure drop. The modified SAPO-34 membrane showed decreased CO₂ permeance but increased separation selectivity for dry CO₂/CH₄ gas mixture, and super performance for wet CO₂/CH₄ gas mixture due to the improved hydrophobicity of membrane surface. A separation selectivity of 65 and CO₂ permeance of 4.73×10^-8 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 for wet CO₂/CH₄ mixture can be observed at 353 K with a pressure drop of 0.4 MPa. Furthermore, the modified membrane exhibited stable separation performance during the 120-hour test for wet CO₂/CH₄ mixture at 353 K. The hydrophobic modification paves a way for SAPO-34 membranes in real applications.     

Structure,photocatalytic and antibacterial activity study of Meso porous Ni and S co-doped TiO_2 nano material under visible light irradiation

Undoped and Ni–S co-doped mesoporous TiO_2 nano materials were synthesized by using sol–gel method.The characteristic features of as prepared catalyst samples were investigated using various advanced spectroscopic and analytical techniques. The characterization results of the samples revealed that all the samples exhibited anatase phase(XRD), decreasing band gap(2.68 eV)(UV–Vis-DRS), small particle size(9.2 nm)(TEM), high surface area(142.156 m~2·g~(-1))(BET), particles with spherical shape and smooth morphology(SEM); there is a frequency shift observed for co-doped sample(FT-IR) and the elemental composition electronic states and position of the doped elements(Ni and S) in the TiO_2 lattice analyzed by XPS and EDX. These results supported the photocatalytic degradation of Bismarck Brown Red(BBR)achieved with in 110 min and also exhibited the antibacterial activity on Staphylococcus aureus(MTCC-3160), Pseudomonas fluorescence(MTCC-1688) under visible light irradiation.     

Characterization and activity of copper and nickel catalysts for the oxidation of phenol aqueous solutions

Catalysts based on CuO/γ-alumina, CuAl₂O₄/γ-alumina, NiO/γ-alumina, NiAl₂O₄/γ-alumina and bulk CuAl₂O₄ have been structurally characterized by BET, porosimetry, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Their catalytic behaviors have also been tested for the oxidation of 5 g/l phenol aqueous solutions using a triphasic tubular reactor working in a trickle-bed regime and air with an oxygen partial pressure of 0.9 MPa at a temperature of 413 K. The copper and nickel catalysts supported on γ-alumina have surface areas of the same order as the support γ-alumina of ca. 190 m²/g and high active phase dispersions which were also confirmed by SEM, whereas the bulk copper aluminate spinel has a surface area of ca. 30 m²/g. XRD detects the phases present and shows a continuous loss of CuO by elution and the formation of a copper oxalate phase on the surface of the copper catalysts which also elutes with time. The NiO was also eluted but less than the copper catalysts. Only the copper and nickel spinel catalysts were stable throughout the reaction. Phenol conversion vs. time shows a continuous overall decrease in activity for the CuO/γ-alumina and NiO/γ-alumina catalysts. In turn, the copper and nickel spinel catalysts reach steady activity plateaus of 40 and 10%, respectively, of phenol conversion. The bulk copper aluminate spinel shows an activity plateau of 20% of the conversion which is lower than that from the copper aluminate/γ-alumina catalyst due to its lower surface area. Nickel catalysts always have lower activities than the copper catalysts for the phenol oxidation reaction. The copper catalysts drive a mechanism of partial phenol oxidation to carboxylic acids and quinone-related products with very high specific rates, and the nickel catalysts mainly drive a mechanism of CO₂ formation with lower conversion but with a potential higher catalyst life. The triphasic tubular reactor using trickle-bed regime largely avoids the mechanism of polymer formation as a catalyst deactivation process.     

High-performance SSZ-13 membranes prepared using ball-milled nanosized seeds for carbon dioxide and nitrogen separations from methane

SSZ-13 membranes with high separation performances were prepared using ball-milled nanosized seeds by once hydrothermal synthesis. Separation performances of SSZ-13 membranes in CO_2/CH_4 and N_2/CH_4 mixtures were enhanced after synthesis modification. Single-gas permeances of CO_2, N_2 and CH_4 and ideal selectivities were recorded through SSZ-13 membranes. The effects of temperature, pressure, feed flow rate and humidity on separation performance of the membranes were discussed. Three membranes prepared after synthesis modifications had an average CO_2 permeance of 1.16 × 10~(-6) mol·(m~2· s·Pa)~(-1)(equal to 3554 GPU) with an average CO_2/CH_4 selectivity of 213 in a 50 vol%/50 vol% CO_2/CH_4 mixture. It suggests that membrane synthesis has a good reproducible. The membrane also displayed a N_2 permeance of 1.07 × 10~(-7) mol·(m~2·s·Pa)~(-1)(equal to 320 GPU) with a N_2/CH_4 selectivity of 13 for a 50 vol%/50 vol% N_2/CH_4 mixture. SSZ-13 membrane displayed stable and good separation performance in the wet CO_2/CH_4 mixture for a long test period over 100 h at 348 K. The current SSZ-13 membranes show great potentials for the simultaneous removals of CO_2 and N_2 in natural gas purification as a facile process suitable for industrial application.     

用CuO/A12O3/堇青石催化剂选择性催化还原脱硝的实验和动力学研究

The CuO/γ-Al2O3/cordierite catalyst, after being sulfated by sulfur dioxide (SO2) at 673 K, exhibits high activities for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of nitrogen oxide (NO) with ammonia (NH3) at 573-723 K. The intrinsic kinetics of SCR of NO with NH3 over CuO/γ-Al2O3/cordierite catalyst has been measured in a fixed-bed reactor in the absence of internal and external diffusions. The experimental results show that the reaction rate can be quantified by a first-order expression with activation energy of 94.01 kJ•mol1 and the corresponding pre-exponential factor of 3.39×108 cm3•g1•s1 when NH3 is excessive. However, when NH3 is not enough, an Eley-Rideal kinetic model based on experimental data is derived with Ea of 105.79 kJ•mol1, the corresponding A of 2.94×109 cm3•g1•s1, heat of adsorption ΔHads of 87.90 kJ•mol1 and the corresponding Aads of 9.24 cm3•mol1. The intrinsic kinetic model obtained was incorporated in a 3D mathematical model of monolithic reactor, and the agreement of the prediction with experimental data indicates that the present kinetic model is adequate for the reactor design and engineering scale-up.     

Mechanism and kinetics study on removal of Iron from phosphoric acid by cation exchange resin

Iron element is one of the main impurities in wet-process phosphoric acid and it has a significant impact on the subsequent phosphorus chemical products. This paper studied the feasibility of using Sinco-430 cation exchange resin for iron removal from phosphoric acid. The specific surface area and the total exchange capacity of resin were 8.91 m~2·g~(-1) and 5.18 mmol·g~(-1), respectively. The sorption mechanism was determined by FTIR and XPS and the results indicated that iron was combined with-SO_3 H in resin. The removal process was studied as a function of temperature, H_3 PO_4 content and mass ratio between resin and solution. The unit mass of resin to remove iron was 0.058 g·g~(-1) resin when the operating parameters were T = 50 ℃, H_3 PO_4 content = 27.61 wt%and S/L = 0.1, respectively. Kinetics study demonstrated that pseudo-second-order reaction model fits this study best and the calculated activation energy of overall reaction is 29.10 kJ·mol~(-1). The overall reaction process was mainly controlled by pore diffusion.     

Nickel(II) ion-intercalated MXene membranes for enhanced H2/CO2 separation

Hydrogen fuel has been embraced as a potential long-term solution to the growing demand for clean energy. A membrane-assisted separation is promising in producing high-purity H₂. Molecular sieving membranes (MSMs) are endowed with high gas selectivity and permeability because their well-defined micropores can facilitate molecular exclusion, diffusion, and adsorption. In this work, MXene nanosheets intercalated with Ni²⁺ were assembled to form an MSM supported on Al₂O₃ hollow fiber via a vacuum-assisted filtration and drying process. The prepared membranes showed excellent H₂/CO₂ mixture separation performance at room temperature. Separation factor reached 615 with a hydrogen permeance of 8.35 × 10⁻⁸ mol·m⁻²·s⁻¹·Pa⁻¹. Compared with the original Ti₃C₂T_x/Al₂O₃ hollow fiber membranes, the permeation of hydrogen through the Ni²⁺-Ti₃C₂T_x/Al₂O₃ membrane was considerably increased, stemming from the strong interaction between the negatively charged MXene nanosheets and Ni²⁺. The interlayer spacing of MSMs was tuned by Ni²⁺. During 200-hour testing, the resultant membrane maintained an excellent gas separation without any substantial performance decline. Our results indicate that the Ni²⁺ tailored Ti₃C₂T_x/Al₂O₃ hollow fiber membranes can inspire promising industrial applications.     

Superior performance in visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution reaction of three-dimensionally ordered macroporous SrTiO3 decorated with ZnxCd1−xS

It is of broad interest to develop emerging photocatalysts with excellent light-harvesting capacity and high charge carrier separation efficiency for visible light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction. However, achieving satisfying hydrogen evolution efficiency under noble metal-free conditions remains challenging. In this study, we demonstrate the fabrication of three-dimensionally ordered macroporous SrTiO₃ decorated with Zn_xCd_1−xS nanoparticles for hydrogen production under visible light irradiation (λ>420 nm). Synergetic enhancement of photocatalytic activity is achieved by the slow photon effect and improved separation efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers. The obtained composites could afford very high hydrogen production efficiencies up to 19.67 mmol·g⁻¹·h⁻¹, with an apparent quantum efficiency of 35.9% at 420 nm, which is 4.2 and 23.9 times higher than those of pure Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S (4.67 mmol·g⁻¹·h⁻¹) and CdS (0.82 mmol·g⁻¹·h⁻¹), respectively. In particular, under Pt-free conditions, an attractive hydrogen production rate (3.23 mmol·g⁻¹·h⁻¹) was achieved, providing a low-cost and high-efficiency strategy to produce hydrogen from water splitting. Moreover, the composites showed excellent stability, and no obvious loss in activity was observed after five cycling tests.     

Characterization and activity in dry reforming of methane on NiMg/Al and Ni/MgO catalysts

Dry reforming of methane has been investigated on two series of catalysts either prepared by co-precipitation: n(Ni_xMg_y)/Al, Ni_xMg_y and Ni_xAl_y or prepared by impregnation: Ni/MgO (mol% Ni = 5, 10). The catalysts, calcined at 600–900 °C, were characterized by different techniques: BET, H₂-TPR, TPO, XRD, IR, and TEM-EDX analysis. The surface BET (30–182 m² g⁻¹) decreased with increasing the temperature of calcination, after reduction and in the presence of Mg element. The XRD analysis showed, for n(Ni_xMg_y)/Al catalysts, the presence of NiAl₂O₄ and NiO–MgO solid solutions. The catalyst reducibility decreased with increasing the temperature of pretreatment. The n(Ni_xMg_y)/Al catalysts were active for dry reforming of methane with a good resistance to coke formation. The bimetallic catalyst Ni_0.05Mg_0.95 (calcined at 750 °C and tested at 800 °C) presents a poor activity. In contrast, the 5% Ni/MgO catalyst, having the same composition but prepared by impregnation, presents a high activity for the same calcination and reaction conditions. For all the catalysts the activity decreased with increasing the temperature of calcination and a previous H₂-reduction of the catalyst improves the performances. The TPO profiles and TEM-EDX analysis showed mainly four types of coke: CH_x species, surface carbon, nickel carbide and carbon nanotubes.     

AFeO3 (A=La, Nd, Sm) and LaFe1−xMgxO3 perovskites as methane combustion and CO oxidation catalysts: structural, redox and catalytic properties

Catalytic methane combustion and CO oxidation were investigated over AFeO₃ (A=La, Nd, Sm) and LaFe_1−xMg_xO₃ (x=0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5) perovskites prepared by citrate method and calcined at 1073 K. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Redox properties and the content of Fe⁴⁺ were derived from temperature programmed reduction (TPR). Specific surface areas (SA) of perovskites were in 2.3–9.7 m² g⁻¹ range. XRD analysis showed that LaFeO₃, NdFeO₃, SmFeO₃ and LaFe_1−xMg_xO₃ (x·0.3) are single phase perovskite-type oxides. Traces of La₂O₃, in addition to the perovskite phase, were detected in the LaFe_1−xMg_xO₃ catalysts with x=0.4 and 0.5. TPR gave evidence of the presence in AFeO₃ of a very small fraction of Fe⁴⁺ which reduces to Fe³⁺. The fraction of Fe⁴⁺ in the LaFe_1−xMg_xO₃ samples increased with increasing magnesium content up to x=0.2, then it remained nearly constant. Catalytic activity tests showed that all samples gave methane and CO complete conversion with 100% selectivity to CO₂ below 973 and 773 K, respectively. For the AFeO₃ materials the order of activity towards methane combustion is La>Nd>Sm, whereas the activity, per unit SA, of the LaFe_1−xMg_xO₃ catalysts decreases with the amount of Mg at least for the catalysts showing a single perovskite phase (x=0.3). Concerning the CO oxidation, the order of activity for the AFeO₃ materials is Nd>La>Sm, while the activity (per unit SA) of the LaFe_1−xMg_xO₃ catalysts decreases at high magnesium content.