CO preferential oxidation in a novel Au@ZrO2 flow-through catalytic membrane reactor with high stability and efficiency

• Au@ZrO2 catalytic membranes were prepared by embedding gold nano-particles in ZrO2 hollow fiber membranes.
• The introduction of catalytic membrane reactor helps to enhance the catalytic activity and TOF value.
• Au@ZrO2 catalytic membranes exhibited high stability and tolerance to CO2 and H2O.

CO preferential oxidation (CO-PROX) achieves much interest as a strategy to remove trace CO in reformed gases for hydrogen utilization. Herein, we reported a novel Au@ZrO2 catalytic membrane reactor by embedding gold nano-particles in ZrO2 hollow fiber membrane for CO-PROX. The flow-through catalytic membrane exhibited high catalytic activity and oxygen selectivity, which gave a turnover frequency of 4.73 s−1 at 60 °C, 2–3 times higher than conventional catalyst pellets. CO conversion of >95% was achieved over the catalytic membrane, which maintained great operational stability during 500-h operation even CO2 and H2O were added in the feed stream. The excellent catalytic performance of the flow-through catalytic membrane makes gold catalyst possible for practical application in the removal of CO from hydrogen.

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