Screening of Additives to a Co/SrCO3 Catalyst by Artificial Neural Network for Preferential Oxidation of CO in Excess H2

Preferential oxidation (PROX) of CO in excess hydrogen was investigated over cobalt catalysts supported on SrCO3, which showed a high performance. From the results of X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), and temperature-programmed desorption, it was concluded that the active species for the PROX of CO is not cobalt oxide but cobalt carbonate-like compound, which was formed in the catalyst preparation step from Co(NO3)2 precursor and SrCO3 support. On the basis of the multivariate analysis, characters by XPS analysis are the main factors to determine the CO conversion with Co/SrCO3 catalyst. The selectivity for CO oxidation was suppressed by the side reactions, such as H2 oxidation and reverse water-gas shift reaction. Therefore, new additive to the Co/SrCO3 catalyst for the retardation of the side reactions was investigated by using an artificial neural network (ANN). The activities of 17 mol % Co + 1.7 mol % X/SrCO3 (X = B, K, Sc, Mn, Zn, Nb, Ag, Nd, Re and Tl) and 16 physicochemical pro...