Water vapor sensitivity of nanosized La(Co, Mn, Fe)1−x(Cu, Pd)xO3 perovskites during NO reduction by C3H6 in the presence of oxygen

A series of La(Co, Mn, Fe)1−x(Cu, Pd)xO3 perovskites having high specific surface areas and nanosized crystal domains was prepared by reactive grinding. The solids were characterized by N2 adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), temperature programmed desorption (TPD) of O2, NO + O2, C3H6, in the absence or presence of 5% H2O, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, as well as activity tests towards NO reduction by propene under the conditions of 3000 ppm NO, 3000 ppm C3H6, 1% O2, 0 or 10% H2O, and 50,000 h−1 space velocity. The objective was to investigate the influence of H2O addition on catalytic behavior. A good performance (100% NO conversion, 77% N2 yield, and 90% C3H6 conversion) was achieved at 600 °C over LaFe0.8Cu0.2O3 under a dry feed stream. With the exposure of LaFe0.8Cu0.2O3 to a humid atmosphere containing 10% water vapor, the catalytic activity was slightly decreased yielding 91% NO conversion, 51% N2 yield, and 86% C3H6 conversion. A competitive adsorption between H2O vapor with O2 and NO molecules at anion vacancies over LaFe0.8Cu0.2O3 was found by means of TPD studies here. A deactivation mechanism was therefore proposed involving the occupation of available active sites by water vapor, resulting in an inhibition of catalytic activity in C3H6 + NO + O2 reaction. This H2O deactivation was also verified to be strictly reversible by removing steam from the feed.