Synthesis of Mesoporous Cu-Mn-Al2O3 Materials and Their Applications to Preferential Catalytic Oxidation of CO in a Hydrogen-rich Stream

A series of mesoporous Cu-Mn-Al2O3（CMA） materials was synthesized at moderate temperature and their structures were characterized by XRD, N2 physical adsorption and TPR techniques. It was found that using metal complex ion[Cu（NH3） 4^2＋-Mn（NH3）6^2＋] as raw materials is easier to form good-structure mesoporous Cu-Mn-Al2O3 materials than using its nitrate salt [Cu（NO3）2-Mn（NO3）2]. The TPR tests results indicate that CuO and MnOx were homogeneously dispersed in the mesoporous materials. Their catalytic application to preferential catalytic oxidation of CO in a hydrogen-rich stream was studied. The activity varies in the order of CMA（1：1, molar ratio）〉 CMA（1：2）〉CMA（2：1）〉CMA（CP）〉CMA（1：0）≈CMA（0：1）. The CMA（1：0） and CMA（0：1） have lower activity compared to other samples, implying that there existed coordination effect between Cu-Mn in the samples. The selectivity varied in the order of CMA（0：1）≥CMA（1：2）〉CMA（1：1）〉CMA（2：1）〉CMA（1：0） at higher temperature （≥ 120 ℃）, indicating that increasing the Cu content enhanced the conversion of H2. The sample CMA（CP） made by coprecipitation method has a lower CO oxidation activity and selectivity than its counter-parts of mesoporous Cu-Mn-Al2O3 materials[CMA（1：2）], this attributed to the lower surface area of the former and poor interaction of CuO with MnOx.