Effect of Si/Al ratio on catalytic performance of hydrothermally aged Cu-SSZ-13 for the NH3-SCR of NO in simulated diesel exhaust

The hydrothermal stability of the CuSSZ-13 samples with various Si/Al ratios was examined. The NO conversions in the NH3-SCR and NH3 oxidation were measured. Physicochemical properties of the samples were characterized by means of a number of analytical techniques. It is shown that the NH3-SCR activity and hydrothermal stability of the CuSSZ-13 samples decreased with the rise in Si/Al ratio. Such decreases were attributed to the drop in the amount of the isolated Cu2+ in the D6R and CHA cage of the CuSSZ-13 samples. Part of the isolated Cu2+ ions were transformed to CuO after hydrothermal aging treatment, especially in the high-Si/Al-ratio samples. A large amount of the aggregated CuO destroyed the skeleton structure of SSZ-13, leading to the deactivation of the samples.