CO oxidation over various nanostructured metal oxides

Nanosized CuO-CeO2, CuO-Fe2O3, CuO-CeO2-Al2O3 and CuO-Fe2O3-CeO2-Al2O3 were successfully prepared by co-precipitation and wet impregnations techniques and tested for the catalytic oxidation of CO to CO2. The influence of different factors as catalyst chemical structure, catalytic temperature and weight of catalyst on the rate of catalytic reaction was investigated using advanced quadruple mass gas analyzer system. It can be reported that the rate of conversion of CO to CO2 is affected by the catalyst chemical structure where the maximum CO conversion % occurs over ceria containing catalysts all the catalytic temperatures and increase with increasing catalytic temperature from 300-400oC, it reach about 100% at 400oC, and over these temperature range, CO conversion % decreases as a result of sintering effect. CO inlet concentration and catalyst mass also affect on the rate of conversion of CO to CO2 where CO conversion % increase with increasing catalyst mass and decreasing CO inlet concentration. The catalytic oxidation of CO to CO2 is probably proceed by adsorption mechanism where the reactants are adsorbed on the surface of the catalyst with breaking O–O bonds, then CO pick up the dissociated O atom forming CO2.