Development of Innovative Structured Catalysts for the Catalytic Decomposition of N<sub>2</sub>O at Low Temperatures

oleh: Eugenio Meloni, Marco Martino, Simona Renda, Olga Muccioli, Pluton Pullumbi, Federico Brandani, Vincenzo Palma

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-11-01

Deskripsi

Nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O), produced from several human activities, is considered a greenhouse gas with significant environmental impacts. The most promising abatement technology consists of the catalytic decomposition of N<sub>2</sub>O into nitrogen and oxygen. Many recently published papers dealing with N<sub>2</sub>O catalytic decomposition over Ni-substituted Co<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> are related to the treatment of N<sub>2</sub>O concentrations less than 2 vol% in the feed stream. The present work is focused on developing catalysts active in the presence of a gaseous stream richer in N<sub>2</sub>O, up to 20 vol%, both as powder and in structured configurations suitable for industrial application. With this aim, different nickel-cobalt mixed oxides (Ni<sub>x</sub>Co<sub>1−x</sub>Co<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>) were prepared, characterized, and tested. Subsequently, since alumina-based slurries assure successful deposition of the catalytic species on the structured carrier, a screening was performed on three nickel-cobalt-alumina mixed oxides. As the latter samples turned out to be excellent catalysts for the N<sub>2</sub>O decomposition reaction, the final catalytic formulation was transferred to a silicon carbide monolith. The structured catalyst led to the following very promising results: total N<sub>2</sub>O conversion and selectivity towards N<sub>2</sub> and O<sub>2</sub> were reached at 510 °C by feeding 20 vol% of N<sub>2</sub>O. It represents an important achievement in the view of developing a more concretely applicable catalytic system for industrial processes.