Low temperature CO oxidation over Pd-Ce catalysts supported on ZSM-5 zeolites

A series of Pd-Ce supported ZSM-5 zeolite catalysts for CO oxidation at low temperature were prepared by co-impregnation method. The effect of Pd-Ce synergistic function, Ce loadings, and properties of ZSM-5 zeolite on low temperature CO catalytic oxidation was investigated in detailed. The results showed that the Pd and Ce loading on ZSM-5 zeolite support at the same time enhanced catalytic activity compared with only Pd or Ce loading on ZSM-5 zeolite support. The properties of ZSM-5 zeolite had a strong influence for CO oxidation. Through the research, the ZSM-5 zeolite with high silicon aluminum ratio and small size also was helpful for CO oxidation. Among these catalysts, the catalyst with 19 wt% Ce loading displayed the highest catalytic activity. Chemical and physical properties of catalysts were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XRD and TEM showed that Pd species were highly dispersed on the surface of ZSM-5 zeolite, which was strongly dependent on the amounts of Ce loading and the interaction among Pd species, Ce promoter and ZSM-5 support. The addition of CeO2 improved the dispersion of Pd species over ZSM-5, and synergistic function of Pd and CeO2 enhanced the catalytic activity. XPS characterization indicated that as the addition of Ce increased, Pd species was easy to enrich on the surface of the catalyst. (C) 2013 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.