Preparation of Cu-Fe composite metal oxide loaded SBA-15 and its capacity for simultaneous catalytic oxidation of hydrogen sulfide and phosphine

Abstract A series of Cu X -SBA-15 and Cu 45 -Fe Y /SBA-15 catalysts were used for simultaneous removal of H 2 S and PH 3 . The materials were prepared by a wet impregnation method, and the roles of copper and iron were considered important factors in this study. Test results showed that the addition of moderate iron could dramatically improve the catalytic oxidation capacity of Cu 45 /SBA-15, and the Cu 45 -Fe 8 /SBA-15 sample could achieve the best simultaneous removal performance. The breakthrough adsorption capacities were identified as 31.86 mgS and 120.05 mgP per gram fresh catalysts, respectively. To investigate the relationship between activity and metal species, the materials were characterized through FT-IR, XRD, XPS, BET, TEM, NH 3 -TPD, in situ IR and ICP-OES methods. The results indicated that the excellent performance in simultaneous removal of H 2 S and PH 3 is likely due to the levels of Cu-O groups, generation of Lewis acid sites and high dispersion of metal oxides. FTIR, XRD and XPS analysis showed that the removal capacity of catalysts depended on the number of Cu-O groups that came from Cu 2 (OH) 3 NO 3 . Moreover, NH 3 -TPD, TEM and XPS results indicated that iron species played an important role in generating Lewis acid sites and uniformly dispersing active components, which may prevent the aggregation of Cu species on the catalyst surface. BET results showed that the pore diameter distribution in the range of 5–6 nm and 14–19 nm may play an important role in improving the removal performance of H 2 S and PH 3 . In addition, the in situ IR analysis showed that the presence of iron species may hinder the accumulation of phosphate species. The pore structure was not the main factor in active performance, but the pore diameter distribution in the range of 11–19 nm may have a promoting effect on simultaneous removal of H 2 S and PH 3 . The deactivation cause can be attributed to the loss of CuO/Fe 2 O 3 and accumulation of P/S/sulfate/phosphate.