Total Oxidation of Toluene and Propane over Supported Co3O4 Catalysts: Effect of Structure/Acidity of MWW Zeolite and Cobalt Loading

A set of supported Co3O4 catalysts have been designed and prepared to study the effect of textural characteristics and Brønsted acid sites concentration of MWW zeolite support, as well as cobalt loading on catalyst activity. Detailed characterization of the catalysts with a thorough study on their performance in the total oxidation of toluene and propane revealed that MCM-22 is the optimal support and that increasing Si/Al and decreasing external surface of MCM-22 positively affect the activity of supported Co3O4 catalysts, which is determined by their low-temperature reducibility. The activity of the Co/MCM-22 catalysts increased with cobalt content (5–20 wt %), consistent with enhancing the amount of low-temperature reducible Co3O4. The optimized catalyst containing 20% Co supported on dealuminated MCM-22 presented high turnover frequency (TOF) values in both toluene (2.6 × 10–5 s–1 at 270 °C) and propane (3.9 × 10–5 s–1 at 215 °C) oxidation and was characterized by outstanding cycling stability, long-term durability, water tolerance, and sintering resistance.