Washcoating of metallic monoliths with a MnCu catalyst for catalytic combustion of volatile organic compounds

A ready-made MnCu catalyst showing a good performance in the combustion of volatile organic compounds has been deposited on FeCrAlloy® metallic monoliths by means of washcoating. With the aim of depositing a homogeneous and well-adhered layer of catalyst on the monoliths, the effects of a pre-coating with colloidal alumina as a primer, the solid concentration in the slurry, the addition of a stabilizer to the slurry, and the immersions number of the monolith in the slurry were studied. The addition of a stabilizer to the slurry was necessary to prevent sedimentation and to achieve reproducible washcoatings. The pre-coating of the monolith with the primer improved the washcoating adherence obtained with one impregnation but a better adherence did not compensate a lower solid load due to a lower surface roughness. A higher amount of deposited material was obtained with the slurry at 35 wt% making two impregnations. The obtained monoliths showed excellent catalytic activity in the combustion of ethyl acetate and toluene. The activity as well as the surface area and pore volume of each monolith increased with the amount of retained solid.