Enhanced catalytic performance of rare earth-doped Cu/H-Sep for the selective catalytic reduction of NO with C3H6 Original Research Article

The undoped and rare earth oxide (REOx, RE = La, Ce, Pr, Sm)-doped acid-treated sepiolite (H-Sep)-supported copper oxide catalysts (Cu/H-Sep and RE-Cu/H-Sep; Cu and RE loading = 15 and 4 wt%, respectively) were prepared using the incipient wetness impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by means of the XRD, BET, XPS, H2-TPR and NH3-TPD techniques, and their catalytic activities were evaluated for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with propylene. It is shown that the doping of REOx led to an enhancement in catalytic performance of Cu/H-Sep in the SCR of NO with C3H6. Among the RE-Cu/H-Sep catalysts, Ce-Cu/H-Sep performed the best, with 62% NO conversion being achieved at 350 °C in the (NO + C3H6 + O2) reaction. We believe that the high catalytic performance of Ce-Cu/H-Sep for the SCR of NO with C3H6 was associated with the good low-temperature reducibility, high copper oxide dispersion, and strong metal–support interaction.