CuO/CeO2 catalysts prepared with different cerium supports for CO oxidation at low temperature

Abstract The activity of a catalyst depends on the nature of its support, its active site, and its preparation method. This study aimed to employ various types of CeO 2 supports such as commercial CeO 2 and self-prepared CeO 2 for the preparation of copper catalysts. The CuO/CeO 2 catalysts were prepared using the polyol process and impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray analysis, and their catalytic activity for CO removal was evaluated in a microcatalytic reactor. The experimental results showed that the catalytic activity of the CuO/CeO 2 catalysts with different calcination temperatures decreased in the following order: 500 °C > 300 °C > 700 °C. Compared to the impregnation method, the polyol process generated well-dispersed metal particles over the support and showed higher CO removal efficiency with low activation energy. Compared to CuO/CeO 2 catalysts with commercial CeO 2 , those with CeO 2 that was self-prepared by pyrolysis had a large pore volume and good crystal structure of CeO 2 and showed good performance. The catalytic activity for CO removal was in the following order: CuO/CeO 2 -P (pyrolysis) > CuO/CeO 2 -C (commercial) > CuO/CeO 2 -D (deposition precipitation). CuO/CeO 2 -P catalysts showed good activity even at low temperature. The CuO/CeO 2 -P(300)-P-120 min catalyst was found to possess the good CO removal rate when the oxygen content was 6%, CO concentration was 500 ppm, catalyst weighed 1.0 g, pollutant gas velocity was 500 mL min −1 , SV was 3.7 × 10 4  h −1 , and reaction temperature was 150 °C.