Structural and kinetic changes to small-pore Cu-zeolites after hydrothermal aging treatments and selective catalytic reduction of NOx with ammonia

Abstract

Three small-pore, eight-membered ring (8-MR) zeolites of different cage-based topology (CHA, AEI, RTH), in their proton- and copper-exchanged forms, were first exposed to high temperature hydrothermal aging treatments (1073 K, 16 h, 10% (v/v) H₂O) and then to reaction conditions for low temperature (473 K) standard selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO_x with ammonia, in order to study the effect of zeolite topology on the structural and kinetic changes that occur to Cu-zeolites used in NO_x abatement. UV-visible spectra were collected to monitor changes to Cu structure and showed that band intensities for isolated, hydrated Cu²⁺ cations (∼12 500 cm⁻¹) remain constant after hydrothermal aging, but decrease in intensity upon subsequent exposure to low temperature SCR reaction conditions. Standard SCR rates (per Cu, 473 K), activation energies, and reaction orders are similar between Cu-AEI and Cu-CHA zeolites before and after hydrothermal aging, although rates are lower after hydrothermal aging as expected from the decreases in intensity of UV-visible bands for Cu²⁺ active sites. For Cu-RTH, rates are lower (by 2–3×) and apparent activation energies are lower (by ∼2×) than for Cu-AEI or Cu-CHA. These findings suggest that the RTH framework imposes internal transport restrictions, effectively functioning as a one-dimensional framework during SCR catalysis. Hydrothermal aging of Cu-RTH results in complete deactivation and undetectable SCR rates, despite X-ray diffraction patterns and Ar micropore volumes (87 K) that remain unchanged after hydrothermal aging treatments and subsequent SCR exposure. These findings highlight some of the differences in low temperature SCR behavior among small-pore Cu-zeolites of different topology, and the beneficial properties conferred by double six-membered ring (D6R) composite building units. They demonstrate that deleterious structural changes to Cu sites occur after exposure to hydrothermal aging conditions and SCR reactants at low temperatures, likely reflecting the formation of inactive copper-aluminate domains. Therefore, the viability of Cu-zeolites for practical low temperature NO_x SCR catalysis cannot be inferred solely from assessments of framework structural integrity after hydrothermal aging treatments, but also require Cu active site and kinetic characterization after hydrothermally aged zeolites are exposed to low temperature SCR reaction conditions.