Combustão catalítica seletiva de acrilonitrila usando óxidos de cobre, níquel e cério

Acrylonitrile (ACN) is widely used in the production of rubbers and resins, but it is also considered a dangerous pollutant in industrial exhaust gases. This work aims to evaluate the activity and selectivity of commercial catalysts of copper oxides (CuO), nickel (NiO) and cerium (CeO2), in the selective catalytic combustion reaction of acrylonitrile (SCC-ACN). These catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-VIS spectrophotometry. The results showed that CuO, NiO and CeO2 are nanocrystalline materials that present characteristic structures and charge transfer transitions of copper, nickel and cerium oxides, respectively. The average crystallite size is in the range of 3.2 and 20.7 nm. CeO2 was more active for SSC-ACN at a lower temperature than CuO and NiO. CeO2 and CuO produced a greater amount of N2 and all catalysts produced NOx, however, these were obtained in lower amount over CeO2. Thus, it is concluded that CeO2 was the most active catalyst with the lowest NOx production in SSC-ACN.