Self-Defense Effects of Ti-Modified Attapulgite for Alkali-Resistant NOx Catalytic Reduction

Nowadays, the serious deactivation of deNOx catalysts caused by alkali metal poisoning was still a huge bottleneck in the practical application of selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3. Herein, alkali-resistant NOx catalytic reduction over metal oxide catalysts using Ti-modified attapulgite (ATP) as supports has been originally demonstrated. The self-defense effects of Ti-modified ATP for alkali-resistant NOx catalytic reduction have been clarified. Ti-modified ATP with self-defense ability was obtained by removing alkaline metal cation impurities in the natural ATP materials without destroying its initial layered-chain structure through the ion-exchange procedure, accompanied with an obvious enrichment of Brønsted acid and Lewis acid sites. The self-defense effects embodied that both ion-exchanged Ti octahedral centers and abundant Si–OH sites in the Ti-ion-exchange-modified ATP could effectively anchor alkali metals via coordinate bonding or ion-exchange process, which induced alkali metals to be immobilized by the Ti-ion-exchange-modified ATP carrier rather than impair active species. Under this special protection of self-defense effects, Ti-ion-exchange-modified ATP supported catalysts still retained plentiful acidic sites and superior redox ability even after alkali metal poisoning, giving rise to the maintenance of sufficient NHx and NOx adsorption and the subsequent efficient reaction, which in turn resulted in high NOx catalytic reduction capacity of the catalyst. The strategy provided new inspiration for the development of novel and efficient selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3 (NH3-SCR) catalysts with high alkali resistance.