Phosphate on ceria with controlled active sites distribution for wide temperature NH3-SCR

Transformation of Arsenic from Poison into Active Site by Construction of Unique AsOx/CeO2 Interface for Stable NOx Removal

Arsenic in the flue gas has been widely reported as a common poison for SCR catalysts; however, an appropriate coping strategy is still lacking to improve the arsenic resistance performance. Herein, a unique AsOx/CeO2 interface is constructed to transform arsenic from poison into active site with balanced acid-redox property, successfully achieving efficient NOx removal. The optimized AsOx/CeO2 exhibits high NOx removal efficiency, four times that of the As-poisoned V2O5/TiO2 catalyst, and even comparable to the state-of-the-art SCR catalysts. It was found that the As-O-Ce interfacial sites in oxygen-bridged As dimers on CeO2 can provide both Lewis acid sites and active lattice oxygen species, enhancing the adsorption and activation of NH3 to form key -NH2 intermediates, thereby facilitating the NH3-SCR reaction. More surprisingly, a thin CeO2 layer on the top of V2O5/TiO2 can capture arsenic to protect catalysts from arsenic attacking, which improves the catalytic activity to 2.8 × 10-7 mol g-1 s-1, even higher than that of fresh V2O5/TiO2 (2.0 × 10-7 mol g-1 s-1). Therefore, this strategy provides new ideas not only for designing antipoisoning SCR catalysts but also a feasible solution for the stable operation of commercial SCR catalysts in arsenic-containing flue gas.

Centrality of phosphate binding modes on metal vanadate in exploiting low-temperature NOX reduction and pyrosulfate dissociation pathways

PO43- guests anchored on metal vanadate hosts are as vital as SO32-/SO42- analogues in wide exploitation for expediting acidic/redox SCR cycles or ABS pyrolysis at low temperatures. This is due to their multiple roles as a provider of Brönsted acidic bonds (BA--H+) and as a dictator of the traits for labile/mobile oxygens (OL/OM) and oxygen vacancies (OV). However, the relationships of BA- (P5+-O2-)/BA--H+ (P5+-O2--H+)/OL/OV/OM feature for the host versus its mono-/bi-dentate PO43- binding mode ( [Formula: see text] / [Formula: see text] ) has never been examined to-date. PO43- guests were thus grafted on MnV2O6 host at 300 °C and 400-500 °C to generate [Formula: see text] -abundant P300 and [Formula: see text] -bountiful P400-P500, respectively. [Formula: see text] species elevated OV hydrophobicity and OM mobility for P300, which were pivotal to enhance its H2O resistance and redox cycle efficiency over P400-P500, respectively. Conversely, [Formula: see text] species outperformed [Formula: see text] counterparts in achieving higher OL nucleophilicity, which was central to reduce the SCR energy barriers and to promote acidic cycle efficiencies for P400-P500. Moreover, P500 had such hydrophobic BA- species that reveal the lowest energy barrier for pyrosulfate (S2O72- of dehydrated ABS) fragmentation among P300-500, thereby unveiling higher ABS resistance than P300-P400 and bi-dentate SO32-/SO42--ample MnV2O6 control with humid, poisonous gases being fed.

Phosphorus-Water Interaction Drives Active Center Evolution into the Water-Adaptive Structure in the High-Humidity NH3-SCR Reaction

The impact of water on catalyst activity remains inconclusive due to its dependence on the specific reaction environment. To maximize the exploitation of water's promoting effect, we employed ammonia selective catalytic reduction (NH3-SCR) as a probe reaction and proposed a phosphorus modification strategy for Cu-ZSM-5 catalysts. The objective of this approach was to construct water-adaptive microstructures through directional arrangement. To investigate the effect of phosphorus on the transformation of framework copper sites in humid environments, we conducted comprehensive characterizations and density functional theory calculation. Results reveal that water molecules cleave the oxygen bridges between phosphorus oxide and copper, leading to the formation of active isolated [Cu(OH)]+ groups and phosphate. The phosphate species weaken the interaction between exchanged Cu2+ groups and the zeolite framework, leading to the generation of highly migratory hydrated Cu2+ species. This work will potentially guide the rational design of water-adaptive catalysts for gas pollution abatement in a humid environment.

Enhanced NOx reduction on CePO4 catalysts: Cu-loading, phosphotungstic acid, and insights from In-situ DRIFTs and DFT

This study investigates the effects of varying Cu/Ce doping ratios on the NH3-SCR denitrification efficiency using Cu-HPW/CePO4 catalysts, where CePO4 serves as the support and copper-doped phosphotungstic acid (HPW) acts as the active phase. The NH3-SCR reaction mechanism was studied by In-situ Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (In-situ DRIFTs) and Density Functional Theory (DFT). In-situ DRIFTs were employed to delve into the intricacies of adsorption and transformation dynamics at the surface sites of catalysts. This approach furnished a robust theoretical foundation aimed at augmenting the efficacy of low-temperature denitrification catalysts. DFT calculations were used to systematically investigate the reaction pathways, intermediates, transition states, and energy barriers over the HPW structure model to complete the NH3-SCR reaction. Empirical evidence suggests that modifying the catalysts with copper substantially enhances their denitrification efficacy and extends their operational temperature spectrum. A notable initial increase in denitrification efficiency was observed with increasing levels of copper modification, followed by a decline. Within the HPW-O15H site, the NH3-SCR reaction advances through both the E-R and L-H mechanisms, encompassing processes such as NH3 adsorption, intermediate formation and transformation, and product release.

Revealing the Excellent Low-Temperature Activity of the Fe1-xCexOδ-S Catalyst for NH3-SCR: Improvement of the Lattice Oxygen Mobility

The development of selective catalytic reduction catalysts by NH₃(NH₃-SCR) with excellent low-temperature activity and a wide temperature window is highly demanded but is still very challenging for the elimination of NO_x emission from vehicle exhaust. Herein, a series of sulfated modified iron-cerium composite oxide Fe_1-xCe_xO_δ-S catalysts were synthesized. Among them, the Fe_0.79Ce_0.21O_δ-S catalyst achieved the highest NO_x conversion of more than 80% at temperatures of 175-375 °C under a gas hourly space velocity of 100000 h^-1. Sulfation formed a large amount of sulfate on the surface of the catalyst and provided rich Brønsted acid sites, thus enhancing its NH₃ adsorption capacity and improving the overall NO_x conversion efficiency. The introduction of Ce is the main determining factor in regulating the low-temperature activity of the catalyst by modulating its redox ability. Further investigation found that there is a strong interaction between Fe and Ce, which changed the electron density around the Fe ions in the Fe_0.79Ce_0.21O_δ-S catalyst. This weakened the strength of the Fe-O bond and improved the lattice oxygen mobility of the catalyst. During the reaction, the iron-cerium composite oxide catalyst showed higher surface lattice oxygen activity and a faster replenishment rate of bulk lattice oxygen. This significantly improved the adsorption and activation of NO_x species and the activation of NH₃ species on the catalyst surface, thus leading to the superior low-temperature activity of the catalyst.

Balancing acid and redox sites of phosphorylated CeO2 catalysts for NOx reduction: The promoting and inhibiting mechanism of phosphorus

The role of phosphorus in metal oxide catalysts is still controversial. The precise tuning of the acidic and redox properties of metal oxide catalysts for the selective catalytic reduction in NO_x using NH₃ is also a great challenge. Herein, CeO₂ catalysts with different degrees of phosphorylation were used to study the balance between the acidity and redox property by promoting and inhibiting effects of phosphorus. CeO₂ catalysts phosphorylated with lower phosphorus content (5 wt%) exhibited superior NO_x reduction performance with above 90% NO_x conversion during 240-420 °C due to the balanced acidity and reducibility derived from the highest content of Brønsted acid sites on PO₄^3- to adsorb NH₃ and surface adsorbed oxygen species. Plenty of PO₃^- over CeO₂ catalysts phosphorylated with the higher phosphorus content (≥ 10 wt%) significantly disrupted the balance between the acidity and the redox property due to the reduced acid/redox sites, which resulted in the less active NO_x species. The mechanism of different structural phosphorus species (PO₄^3- and PO₃^-) in promoting or inhibiting the NO_x reduction over CeO₂ catalysts was revealed. This work provides a novel method for qualitative and quantitative study of the relationship between acidity/redox property and activity of catalysts for NO_x reduction.

Unique Compensation Effects of Heavy Metals and Phosphorus Copoisoning over NOx Reduction Catalysts

Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO_x from the flue gas is still a grand challenge due to the easy deactivation of catalysts. The copoisoning mechanisms and multipoisoning-resistant strategies for SCR catalysts in the coexistence of heavy metals and phosphorus are barely explored. Herein, we unexpectedly found unique compensation effects of heavy metals and phosphorus copoisoning over NO_x reduction catalysts and the introduction of heavy metals results in a dramatic recovery of NO_x reduction activity for the P-poisoned CeO₂/TiO₂ catalysts. P preferentially combines with Ce as a phosphate species to reduce the redox capacity and inhibit NO adsorption. Heavy metals preferentially reduced the Brønsted acid sites of the catalyst and inhibited NH₃ adsorption. It has been demonstrated that heavy metal phosphate species generated over the copoisoned catalyst, which boosted the activation of NH₃ and NO, subsequently bringing about more active nitrate species to relieve the severe impact by phosphorus and maintain the NO_x reduction over CeO₂/TiO₂ catalysts. The heavy metals and P copoisoned catalysts also possessed more acidic sites, redox sites, and surface adsorbed oxygen species, which thus contributed to the highly efficient NO_x reduction. This work elaborates the unique compensation effects of heavy metals and phosphorus copoisoning over CeO₂/TiO₂ catalysts for NO_x reduction and provides a perspective for further designing multipoisoning-resistant CeO₂-based catalysts to efficiently control NO_x emissions in stationary sources.

Kinetics of Lignin Separation during the Atmospheric Fractionation of Bagasse with p-Toluenesulfonic Acid

As a green and efficient component separation technology, organic acid pretreatment has been widely studied in biomass refining. In particular, the efficient separation of lignin by p-toluenesulfonic acid (p-TsOH) pretreatment has been achieved. In this study, the mechanism of the atmospheric separation of bagasse lignin with p-TsOH was investigated. The separation kinetics of lignin was analyzed. A non-simple linear relationship was found between the separation yield of lignin and the concentration of p-TsOH, the temperature and the stirring speed. The shrinking nucleus model for the separation of lignin was established based on the introduction of mass transfer and diffusion factors. A general model of the total delignification rate was obtained. The results showed that the process of lignin separation occurred into two phases, i.e., a fast stage and a slow stage. The results provide a theoretical basis for the efficient separation of lignin by p-TsOH pretreatment.