Macroporous Monolithic Pt/γ-Al2O3 and K-Pt/γ-Al2O3 Catalysts Used for Preferential Oxidation of CO

Macro-porous monolithic gamma-Al2O3 was prepared by using macro-porous polystyrene monolith foam as the template and alumina sol as the precursor. Platinum and potassium were loaded on the support by impregnation method. TG, XRD, N-2 adsorption-desorption, SEM, TEM, and TPR techniques were used for catalysts characterization, and the catalytic performance of macro-porous monolithic Pt/gamma-Al2O3 and K-Pt/gamma-Al2O3 catalysts were tested in hydrogen-rich stream for CO preferential oxidation (CO-PROX). SEM images show that the macropores in the macro-porous monolithic gamma-Al2O3 are interconnected with the pore size in the range of 10 to 50 mu m, and the monoliths possess hierarchical macro-meso(micro)-porous structure. The macro-porous monolithic catalysts, although they are less active intrinsically than the particle ones, exhibit higher CO conversion and higher O-2 to CO oxidation selectivity than particle catalysts at high reaction temperatures, which is proposed to be owing to its hierarchical macro-meso(micro) -porous structure. Adding potassium lead to marked improvement of the catalytic performance, owing to intrinsic activity and platinum dispersion increase resulted from K-doping. CO in hydrogen-rich gases can be removed to 10 ppm over monolithic K-Pt/gamma-Al2O3 by CO-PROX.