Preservation of the Activity of Supported Gold Catalysts for CO Oxidation

Procedures leading to the preservation of activity of supported gold catalysts for CO oxidation are reviewed. The inclusion of iron as Fe(OH)₃ in preparing catalysts using tin oxide, ceria and zirconia as supports gives better activity and much improved stability with time-on-stream. In the case of Au/Fe-SnO₂ (0.5–0.9% Au), the effect is maximal with ~4% Fe. The stability of catalysts based on ceria as support is also much better when small amounts of either iron or lanthanum during preparation of the support by thermal decomposition of nitrates. Au/SnO₂ catalysts often suffer initial deactivation followed by an increase in activity with time-on-stream; a period of refrigeration (7d) induces an excellent stability at high conversion.