Reactivation of sintered Pt/Al2O3 oxidation catalysts

The reactivation of thermally sintered Pt/Al2O3 catalysts used in the simultaneous oxidation of CO and propene has been achieved by an oxychlorination treatment. The catalyst can be considered to model the active component of the catalytic converter fitted to diesel driven cars. Platinum crystallites redispersion was verified by XRD, H2 chemisorption, TEM and FTIR. The extent of regeneration reflects the platinum particle redispersion achieved by such a treatment. Oxychlorination also introduced electronic effects in the Pt particle caused by the presence of chlorine at the Pt-Al2O3 interface but no detrimental result of this was observed in the oxidation reactions. The results indicate that the deactivation of the diesel oxidation catalysts (DOCs) can be reverted by this simple treatment resulting in a remarkable recovery of the catalytic activity.