Hydrothermal Aging Mechanism and Modeling for SCR Catalysts

Based on the activity evaluation and characterization test, we explored the hydrothermal aging mechanism of a vanadium-based SCR catalyst and constructed a dual-site hydrothermal aging kinetic model in this study. The vanadium-based catalyst contains Brønsted acidic sites and Lewis acidic sites, which show different sensitivities to hydrothermal aging, and the reduction of active sites is the main reason for the NOx conversion efficiency reduction after hydrothermal aging. The ammonia storage capacities of both sites have a high correlation coefficient with the NOx conversion efficiency. Based on the method of NH₃-TPD curve peak resolution, we quantified the transformations of the two active sites and established the relationship between the site density, the aging temperature, and the duration to determine the aging factor. Then, a hydrothermal aging kinetic model was constructed, and the parameter identification and verification of the model were carried out through flow reactor experiments. The results show that the model constructed in this study can accurately reflect the catalyst activity after hydrothermal aging.

Supported nanostructured photocatalysts: the role of support-photocatalyst interactions

Heterogeneous photocatalysis employing semiconductor oxide photocatalysts is a sustainable and promising method for environmental remediation and clean energy generation. In this context, nanostructured photocatalysts, with at least one dimension in the 1‒100 nm size regime, have attracted ever-growing attention due to their unique and often enhanced size-dependent physicochemical properties. While their reduced size ensures enhanced photocatalytic performance, the same makes it difficult and time/energy-demanding to remove/recover such nanostructured photocatalysts from aqueous media. This fundamental limitation has paved the way towards developing supported nanophotocatalysts where the active photocatalytic nanostructures are coated on the surface of polymeric or inorganic support materials, often in a core@shell conformation. This arrangement solves the problem of photocatalysts' recovery for effective reuse or recycling and leads to improved and desired target properties due to specific photocatalyst-support interactions. While the enhanced physicochemical properties of supported photocatalysts have been widely studied in many target applications, the role of support-photocatalysts interactions in improving these properties remains unexplored. This review article provides an updated viewpoint on the photocatalyst-support interactions and the resulting unique physiochemical properties important for diverse photochemical applications and the design of practical devices. While exploring the properties of supported nanostructured metal oxide/sulfides photocatalysts such as TiO₂ and MoS₂, we also briefly discuss the common strategies employed to coat the active nanomaterials on the surface of different supports (organic/polymeric, inorganic, active, inert, and magnetic).

Study on the Mechanism of SO2 Poisoning of MnOx/PG for Lower Temperature SCR by Simple Washing Regeneration

Manganese oxide-supported palygorskite (MnOx/PG) catalysts are considered highly efficient for low-temperature SCR of NOx. However, the MnOx/PG catalyst tends to be poisoned by SO2. The effect of SO2 on activity of the SO2-pretreated poisoning catalysts under ammonia-free conditions was explored. It was determined that the MnOx/PG catalyst tends to be considerably deactivated by SO2 in the absence of ammonia and that water-washed regeneration can completely recover activity of the deactivated catalyst. Based on these results and characterizations of the catalysts, a reasonable mechanism for the deactivation of MnOx/PG catalyst by SO2 was proposed in this study. SO2 easily oxidized to SO3 on the surface of the catalyst, leading to the formation of polysulfuric acid, wrapping of the active component and blocking the micropores. The deactivation of the MnOx/PG catalyst is initially caused by the formation of polysulfuric rather than the deposition of ammonia sulfate, which occurs later.

Tungsten-Based Catalysts for Environmental Applications

This review aims to give a general overview of the recent use of tungsten-based catalysts for wide environmental applications, with first some useful background information about tungsten oxides. Tungsten oxide materials exhibit suitable behaviors for surface reactions and catalysis such as acidic properties (mainly Brønsted sites), redox and adsorption properties (due to the presence of oxygen vacancies) and a photostimulation response under visible light (2.6–2.8 eV bandgap). Depending on the operating condition of the catalytic process, each of these behaviors is tunable by controlling structure and morphology (e.g., nanoplates, nanosheets, nanorods, nanowires, nanomesh, microflowers, hollow nanospheres) and/or interactions with other compounds such as conductors (carbon), semiconductors or other oxides (e.g., TiO2) and precious metals. WOx particles can be also dispersed on high specific surface area supports. Based on these behaviors, WO3-based catalysts were developed for numerous environmental applications. This review is divided into five main parts: structure of tungsten-based catalysts, acidity of supported tungsten oxide catalysts, WO3 catalysts for DeNOx applications, total oxidation of volatile organic compounds in gas phase and gas sensors and pollutant remediation in liquid phase (photocatalysis).

New Findings in Hydrothermal Deactivation Research on the Vanadia-Selective Catalytic Reduction Catalyst

Considering the risks of hydrothermal deterioration in vehicles, power plants, and oceangoing vessels, V₂O₅-WO₃/TiO₂ catalysts were subject to hydrothermal and thermal aging at 600, 625, 635, and 650 °C for 4-48 h. The different ratio and significant loss of active sites are main reasons for catalyst deactivation. Both Lewis and Brønsted acid sites are involved in the selective catalytic reduction reaction. Brønsted acid sites are more susceptible. High temperature plays a major role in the aging. It causes sintering, particle growth, and the anatase phase transition. Phase transformation turns out to be less important than sintering. Sintering leads to the reduction of the BET surface area, which in turn causes decrease of NH₃ adsorption amount and changes of active sites. Aging time can accelerate the degree of deactivation. It also helps to change the proportion of active sites. Water vapor has no significant effect on NO _X conversion rates.

Effects of SiO2 modification on the hydrothermal stability of the V2O5/WO3–TiO2 NH3-SCR catalyst: TiO2 structure and vanadia species

The addition of silica could produce the Si_xTi_1−xO₂ solid solutions at the interface in the doped catalyst, which inhibit the direct contact among anatase crystals and improve the stable textural property of V₂O₅/WO₃–TiO₂ catalyst.

Operando Spectroscopic Studies of Cu-SSZ-13 for NH3-SCR deNOx Investigates the Role of NH3 in Observed Cu(II) Reduction at High NO Conversions

The small pore zeolite chabazite (SSZ-13) in the copper exchanged form is a very efficient material for the selective catalytic reduction by ammonia (NH₃) of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the exhaust of lean burn engines, typically diesel powered vehicles. The full mechanism occurring during the NH₃–SCR process is currently debated with outstanding questions including the nature and role of the catalytically active sites. Time-resolved operando spectroscopic techniques have been used to provide new level of insights in to the mechanism of NH₃–SCR, to show that the origin of stable Cu(I) species under SCR conditions is potentially caused by an interaction between NH₃ and the Cu cations located in eight ring sites of the bulk of the zeolite and is independent of the NH₃–SCR of NOx occurring at Cu six ring sites within the zeolite.