Activity of supported Au catalyst for preferential CO oxidation

In this work, a series of Au supported on Fe2O3-TiO2 with various atomic ratios of Fe:Ti (0:1, 1:4, 1:1, 4:1 and 1:0) were investigated for the preferential CO oxidation (PROX) in a H2-rich stream. Gold catalysts were prepared by deposition precipitation method (DP). The reactant gas composition were 1 % CO, 1 % O2, 40 % H2, and balance with He. The PROX reaction was carried out in a fixed bed reactor. The effects of mixed oxide support, calcination temperature, gold loading, and pretreatment condition, on the characteristic and catalytic activity of the catalysts were studied. The result showed that 1% Au/Fe2O3-TiO2 with an atomic ratio of Fe:Ti (1:4) achieved 94.99 % CO conversion and 56.46 % PROX selectivity at 60 °C and also exhibited higher CO conversion than the 1% Au/TiO2 and 1% Au/Fe2O3 at all reaction temperature (40 °C to 180 °C). It was found that the addition of Fe2O3 on titania (TiO2) could lead to enhance the electronic interaction and thereby promoting the catalytic activity for PROX reaction to a better extent.