Combustion of diesel soot in NO/O2 presence. Cesium nitrate and gold catalysts

Abstract The diesel soot combustion was studied using catalysts prepared by impregnation with cesium nitrate and/or gold on zirconium oxide (ZrO 2 ), hydrated zirconium oxide and silica (SiO 2 ). Catalysts were characterized by colorimetry, elemental analysis, atomic absorption spectrophotometry, XRD, FTIR, TPR and XPS. Measurements of catalytic activity were performed in a thermobalance with air and in a fixed bed reactor with a NO/O 2 feed. All catalysts containing cesium nitrate exhibit a good activity for soot oxidation and the addition of gold substantially increases the CO 2 generation leading the selectivity to 100% in CO 2 .