Mechanism of the selective catalytic oxidation of slip ammonia over Ru-modified Ce-Zr complexes determined by in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy.

The slip ammonia from selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx in coal-fired flue gas can result in deterioration of the utilities or even the environmental issues. To achieve selective catalytic oxidation (SCO) of slip ammonia, Ru-modified Ce-Zr solid solution catalysts were prepared and evaluated under various conditions. It was found that the Ru/Ce(0.6)Zr(0.4)O2(polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)) catalyst displayed significant catalytic activity and the slip ammonia was almost completely removed with the coexistence of NOx and SO2. Interestingly, the effect of SO2 on NH3 oxidation was bifacial, and the N2 selectivity of the resulting products was as high as 100% in the presence of SO2 and NH3. The mechanism of the SCO of NH3 over Ru/Ce(0.6)Zr(0.4)O2(PVP) was studied using various techniques, and the results showed that NH3 oxidation follows an internal SCR (iSCR) mechanism. The adsorbed ammonia was first activated and reacted with lattice oxygen atoms to form an -HNO intermediate. Then, the -HNO mainly reacted with atomic oxygen from O2 to form NO. Meanwhile, the formed NO interacted with -NH2 to N2 with N2O as the byproduct, but the presence of SO2 can effectively inhibit the production of N2O.