Effect of preparation methods on the performance of CuFe-SSZ-13 catalysts for selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3.

CuFe-SSZ-13 catalyst showed excellent performance in the selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3 (NH3-SCR) for diesel engine exhaust purification. To investigate the effect of preparation methods on NH3-SCR performance, Fe was loaded into one-pot synthesized Cu-SSZ-13 catalysts through solid-state ion-exchange (SSIE), homogeneous deposition precipitation (HDP) and liquid ion-exchange (IE), respectively. Three CuFe-SSZ-13 catalysts showed similar SO2 resistance, which was better than that of Cu-SSZ-13. The improvement was attributed to the protection of Fe species. Hydrothermal stability of three CuFe-SSZ-13 catalysts was significantly different, which was attributed to the state of active species caused by different preparation methods. Compared with the other two catalysts, more active species existed inside the zeolite pores of CuFe-SSZ-13SSIE. During hydrothermal aging, the aggregation of these active species in the pores caused the collapse of catalyst structure, ultimately leading to the deactivation of CuFe-SSZ-13SSIE. In contrast, Fe species was dispersed better on the surface over CuFe-SSZ-13IE, enhancing the hydrothermal stability of catalysts. Consequently, Fe loading effectively improved the resistance of SO2 and H2O over Cu-SSZ-13. For CuFe-SSZ-13, large amounts of active species located inside the zeolite pores are not beneficial for the hydrothermal stability.