Estudo da desativação térmica de catalisadores à base de óxidos mistos de cério e zircônio

Abstract

The automotive catalyst has significantly contributed to environmental protection since its use in light vehicles became mandatory. However, it is constantly subjected to severe thermal conditions which may cause a significant decrease in catalytic activity. Thus, this work studied the effect of temperature in the thermal deactivation of model automotive catalysts. All the catalysts were prepared with cerium and zirconium mixed oxides containing 50 mol % of cerium and zirconium (CZ). The Pd-CZ and Pd-CZ-LaAl catalysts were prepared by impregnation of CZ with Pd to obtain 0.5% of the noble metal in the catalyst. The Pd-CZ-LaAl catalyst was prepared from a physical mixture of Pd-CZ and the LaAl support (alumina doped with 1,9 wt% of La), followed by calcination at 500°C. The samples were subjected to aging at 900°C and 1200°C in oxidizing atmosphere for 12 and 36h. The catalysts were characterized by a set of physicochemical techniques. Analyses of N2 physisorption for the determination of the surface area and the study of the evolution of the pore volume and diameter for fresh and aged samples were carried out. X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments were done to follow possible phase transitions after aging. Chemical analysis was carried out to validate the composition of the samples. The CZ samples were subjected to thermal analysis to identify the temperature in which phase segregation occurs. Temperature programmed reduction (TPR) experiments were carried out to quantify the amount of hydrogen necessary to the catalyst reduction and to associate it to the samples reducibility after thermal aging. Finally, catalytic evaluation was based on the lightoff curves obtained for CO and C3H8 oxidation and reduction of NO by CO. XRD analyses evidenced alumina phase transitions after aging at 900°C, but not for CZ. However, after aging at 1200°C, there was phase segregation, which is consistent with the drastic decrease in surface area. Some catalysts presented collapse of the textural properties. TPR analyses showed that, in determined conditions, thermal aging promotes the reduction of CZ system and the introduction of Pd promotes the catalyst reduction. This is evidenced by the shift of the reduction peaks to lower temperatures observed in PdCZ profiles compared to pure CZ profiles. Catalytic tests showed that Pd introduction is crucial for C3H8 conversion. Pd catalysts also achieved higher CO conversions. For the catalysts aged at 1200°C, the only positive result was obtained with the Pd-CZ-LaAl catalyst, which still converted CO, C3H8 and NO. Thus, the Pd-CZ-LaAL catalysts presented the best results, indicating that the impregnation of Pd-CZ with LaAl improves the performance and the stability of the catalyst at high temperatures (above 300°C).