Purification of H2-rich streams by CO preferential oxidation over Pt nanoparticles supported on ordered porous silica

Abstract

In this work, the performance of mesostructured Pt catalysts is studied for the preferential oxidation of CO in H2-rich environments under a wide range of operating conditions. The catalysts were synthesized by incipient wetness impregnation and characterized by nitrogen sorptometry, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed reduction by hydrogen, H2chemisorption and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy. The influence of Pt content, the presence of aluminium in the mesoporous structure, as well as different catalyst preteatments were studied. The samples showed promising results in terms of activity, selectivity and stability. Pt (1%)/Al-MCM-41 exhibits high activity for CO preferential oxidation at 120 °C, when pretreated with hydrogen and shows stability for 80 h on-stream, even when steam and CO2is fed in the inlet stream.