Characterization of colloid-derived Pd-Cu/Al2O3 catalysts for nitrate reduction

ENVR 174

Kathryn A. Guy, kaguy@uiuc.edu1, John R. Shapley, shapley@uiuc.edu1, Charles J. Werth, werth@uiuc.edu2, Zhenyu Liu3, Judith C. Yang3, Qi Wang4, and Anatoly I. Frenkel, anatoly.frenkel@yu.edu4. (1) Department of Chemistry and Center of Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 505 S. Mathews, Urbana, IL 61801, (2) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Center of Advanced Materials for Purification of Water with Systems, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 3215 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, 205 N. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801, (3) Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, (4) Physics Department, Yeshiva University, New York, NY 10016
A set of polymer-protected Pd-Cu/PVP (PVP = poly-N-vinylpyrrolidone) colloids with Pd:Cu ratios ranging from 50:50 to 90:10 has been used as precursors for alumina-supported Pd-Cu catalysts for the reduction of nitrate with hydrogen in water. The colloids were dispersed on gamma-alumina powder by incipient wetness, and the resultant materials were dried, calcined in air to remove the PVP polymer, then reduced in hydrogen. These materials are active for nitrate reduction at room temperature in batch reactors under 1 atm of hydrogen, but the activity varies significantly as a function of the initial Pd:Cu ratio. Characterization of these catalysts has been conducted by a variety of techniques including CO chemisorption, powder XRD, EDX, STEM and EXAFS. Results from these various probes will be presented and discussed in terms of catalyst nanoparticle structure and its relationship to the bimetallic catalyst activity and selectivity.
 

Advances in Abiotic Transformation Processes for Micropollutants in Drinking Water and for Sourcewater Protection
8:30 AM-12:10 PM, Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Rm. 237, Oral

Division of Environmental Chemistry

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008