Exploring the role of Cu/Mn-BTC catalyst in the selective catalytic reduction of NOx by C3H6: Synthesis to in-situ DRIFTS study

The choice of reducing agents and their impact on catalytic performance are important aspects of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology. Marking the inaugural use of C3H6 as a reducing agent with the BTC catalyst, a bimetallic organic framework (xCu-Mn-BTC) was prepared and tested as a catalyst for NOx reduction under oxygen-enriched conditions. The results showed that NO conversion was influenced by the ratio of Cu and Mn metals, among which 3.2Cu-Mn-BTC exhibited the highest denitrification performance (80 % NOx conversion and 94 % N2 selectivity) at 300 °C. From the characterization results, Cu was successfully incorporated into the BTC framework and 3.2Cu-Mn-BTC became spherical grains with smaller particle sizes. The high catalytic activity of 3.2Cu-Mn-BTC was due to the presence of more adsorbed oxygen Oα (89.7 %) and Cu2+ (63 %) species than in the other catalysts. The TPR peak of xCu-Mn-BTC shifted to a lower temperature and showed better reducibility. The Py-FTIR study shows that xCu-Mn-BTC contained more Lewis acid but no Brønsted acid, because Cu increased the concentration of Lewis acid on the catalytic surface (42 to 46 mmol/g), and Lewis acid plays an important role in the C3H6-SCR of NOx.