Activity of supported platinum catalysts for methane oxidation

Oxidation of methane was carried out on platinum catalysts supported on Al2O3, SiO2-Al2O3 and SiO2. Catalysts were characterized by a temperature programmed reduction technique (TPR). Catalytic activity was related to the TPR profile if the component reducible at relatively low temperature (1 peak) was considered to be the active site. The catalyst was completely oxidized under the experimental conditions and the catalytic activity was dependent on the reducibility of platinum oxide. The turn-over frequency of methane oxidation gave a basis for the comparison of supports, viz., Pt/SiO2-Al2O3 > Pt/Al2O3 > Pt/SiO2.