Pd4S/SiO2: A Sulfur-Tolerant Palladium Catalyst for Catalytic Complete Oxidation of Methane

Sulfur species (e.g. H2S or SO2) are the natural enemies of most metal catalysts, especiallypalladium catalysts. The previously reported methods of improving sulfur-tolerance were toeffectively defer the deactivation of palladium catalysts, but could not prevent PdO and carrierinteraction between sulfur species. In this report, novel sulfur-tolerant SiO2 supported Pd4Scatalysts (5 wt. % Pd loading) were prepared by H2S–H2 aqueous bubble method and applied tocatalytic complete oxidation of methane. The catalysts were characterization by X-ray diffraction,Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron Spectroscopy, temperature-programmedoxidation, and temperature-programmed desorption techniques under identical conditions. Thestructural characterization revealed that Pd4S and metallic Pd0 were found on the surface of freshlyprepared catalysts. However, Pd4S remained stable while most of metallic Pd0 was converted toPdO during the oxidation reaction. When coexisting with PdO, Pd4S not only protected PdO fromsulfur poisoning, but also determined the catalytic activity. Moreover, the content of Pd4S could beadjusted by changing H2S concentration of H2S–H2 mixture. When H2S concentration was 7 %, thePd4S/SiO2 catalyst was effective in converting 96% of methane at the 400 °C and also exhibitedlong-term stability in the presence of 200 ppm H2S. A Pd4S/SiO2 catalyst that possesses excellentsulfur-tolerance, oxidation stability, and catalytic activity has been developed for catalyticcomplete oxidation of methane.