Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of Sr-doped LaMnO3 perovskite as oxidation catalyst

Sr-doped LaMnO3 perovskite oxide has been focused on as one of the alternative catalysts to precious metals such as platinum that are used for cleaning automotive emission gas. The conventional Solid-state reaction method is a popular productive process for perovskite oxide, however, it is time and energy consuming process because it requires repeated prolonged heat treatment at high temperatures. Therefore, the purposes of this work are to produce Sr-doped LaMnO3 perovskite by using Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) and experimentally examine the oxidation catalytic activity of the product for cleaning automotive emission gas. In the SHS, powders of La2O3, SrCO3, Mn and NaClO4 were well mixed at the desired ratio and poured in a graphite crucible, where at one end it was ignited by using an electrically heated carbon foil. The wave of exothermic reaction due to oxidation of manganese propagated to the other end in a short time. The obtained products were characterized by means of XRD, FE-SEM, BET and particle size distribution analysis and then evaluated via catalytic oxidation tests by using propane in a fixed bed reactor at several temperatures. From the XRD analysis, the products had the desired composition of La1−xSrxMnO3 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4) perovskite, in which the replacing ratio x of La and Sr in the products was easily controlled by changing the mixing ratio of raw materials. The catalytic activity test showed that the samples exhibited good catalytic activity for propane oxidation over 200 °C, although the products had a relatively small surface area. SHS showed the potential for the production of a relatively inexpensive catalytic converter.