Catalytic oxidation of nitrogen monoxide over Pt/SiO2

The catalytic oxidation of NO was studied on a catalyst consisting of platinum supported on SiO2. The kinetic behavior over Pt/SiO2 with a platinum loading of 2.5 wt.% was investigated in a feed containing 5% water and various concentrations of oxygen, nitrogen monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. The conversion of NO to NO2 increases when the oxygen concentration is increased from 0.1 to 10%, but levels off at higher concentrations. Increasing feed concentrations of NO lead to a decrease in the conversion to NO2. The formation of NO2 is also depressed by the addition of NO2 to the feed. Both observations suggest that the oxidation of NO on Pt/SiO2 is autoinhibited by the reaction product NO2. Further experiments have shown that the inhibition caused by NO2 is mostly persistent, i.e. a deactivation of the catalyst occurs. A pretreatment at 250 °C in a feed containing 500 ppm NO2 causes a very strong decrease in activity. However, the initial activity can be restored either by a thermal regeneration at 650 °C in air or by a regeneration under reducing conditions at 250 °C, e.g. in a feed containing NH3. This suggests that the deactivation by NO2 is due to the formation of a thin layer of platinum oxide covering the platinum surface at least partially.