A comparative investigation of SO2 oxidative transfer over CuO with a CeO2 surface

To further improve the catalytic desulfurization function of the Mg-Al spinel sulfur transfer agent in a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit, the reaction paths of SO2 oxidation by O2 over the metal oxide surface of CuO (111) and CeO2 (111) were investigated. In reference to the fact that SO2 reacting with O2 over CuO was a Mars-van Krevelen cycle, a similar reaction law for SO2 oxidation over CeO2 was also verified by characterization methods (e.g., IR, XPS). Meanwhile, the molecular simulation results indicated that the rate-control step of SO2 oxidation over CeO2 (111) and CuO (111) was a SO3 desorption step. The lower energy barrier in the rate-control step corresponded to better catalytic performance; hence, it could explain the reason that CeO2 had a better sulfur oxidization transfer performance than CuO.