On the mechanism of the selective catalytic reduction of NO to N₂ by H₂ over Ru/MgO and Ru/Al₂O₃ catalysts

Abstract

Steady-state and transient kinetic experiments were performed in a versatile microreactor flow set-up with magnesia- and alumina-supported ruthenium catalysts in order to elucidate the mechanism of the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of nitric oxide with hydrogen. Both Ru/MgO and Ru/γ-Al₂O₃ were found to be highly active catalysts converting NO and H₂ into N₂ and H₂O with selectivities close to 100% at full conversion, although Ru-based catalysts are known to be active in the synthesis of NH₃ from N₂ and H₂. Frontal chromatography experiments with NO at room temperature revealed that NO and its dissociation products displace adsorbed atomic hydrogen (H−*) almost completely from hydrogen-precovered Ru surfaces. Obviously, NO and H₂ compete for the same adsorption sites, H−* being the weaker bound adsorbate. Temperature-programmed surface reaction (TPSR) experiments in H₂ subsequent to NO exposure demonstrated that higher heating rates and lower partial pressures of H₂ shift the selectivity from NH₃ to N₂. Therefore, the coverage of H−* is concluded to govern the branching ratio between the rate of associative desorption of N₂ (2N−*→N₂ + 2*) and the rate of hydrogenation of N−* (N−* + 3H–* →NH₃ + 4*). Finally, the steady-state coverages of N- and O-containing adsorbates were derived by interrupting the SCR reaction and hydrogenating the adsorbates off as NH₃ and H₂O. By solving the site balance, the Ru surfaces were found to be essentially N₂ is attributed to the very low coverage of H−* due to site blocking by a N + O coadsorbate layer, favouring the recombination of N−* instead of its hydrogenation to NH₃.