Improved high-temperature sintering resistance and light alkanes oxidation activity by La modification on Co3O4 nanocatalyst

In order to improve low-temperature activity and high-temperature sintering resistance of cobalt-based catalyst in catalytic degradation of emitted light alkanes, a strategy of lanthanum modification on Co3O4 nanocrystalline is proposed in this work, aiming at efficiently degrading methane emitted from the oil and natural gas industry. The La-Co3O4 nanocatalysts were prepared by co-precipitation method, and the effects of La-doping on the structural features and catalytic activity of Co3O4 catalyst for methane oxidation were investigated. The results show that the addition of lanthanum forms a composite catalyst containing La2O3 phase and Co3O4 phase, and the interaction increases the active species, which can significantly improve the low-temperature activity of the catalyst. Among them, 5 % La-Co3O4-F catalyst shows the best catalytic activity with 48 °C decrease of the temperature of 90 % methane conversion (T90) compared with pure Co3O4. Furthermore, with thermal ageing treatment at 750 °C for 100 h, Lanthanum modification can significantly slow down the agglomeration growth and the decrease of specific surface area of cobalt oxide in long-term running, and the formation of perovskite structure (LaCoO3) on Co3O4 nanocrystal surface increases the mobility of lattice oxygen, further inhibiting the sintering deactivation of Co3O4 catalyst. The catalyst doped with 5 % La still showed better performance after thermal ageing, which is 127 °C lower than T90 of pure Co3O4. Moreover, this advantage of La doping can also be observed in the catalytic oxidation of other typical hydrocarbons such as ethane and propane. This work provides a promising strategy toward the design of advanced non-precious metal oxide catalysts for practical catalytic oxidation application with excellent high-temperature sintering resistance.