There are three major problems affecting efficiency in the catalytic oxidation of ammonia for obtaining nitric acid in an industrial plant: the limited life of gauzes, the low efficiency of the catalyst after a few months of operation, and finally, the necessity of recovering as much quantity of precious metals as possible. The first point to study in order to control the process and extend the useful life of the catalyst should be the correct characterization of the deactivated system. Therefore, this research is a systematic study about the performance of the catalytic recovering systems in nitric acid plants for all industrial pressures. In addition, it intends to cover the need of updating the knowledge in this field. The results obtained in this study with the support of SEM, EDX, XPS and AAS techniques, allow us to reach the following conclusions: The extremely critical conditions in which the activation pretreatment takes place cause important structural variations in the material surface. Beyond that, significant PtO2 losses and subsequent enrichment in RhO2 occur in a campaign in a high pressure plant, and mean while a continuous surface reconstruction is taking place. In contrast, an enrichment in Rh0 occurs in a lower pressure plant. In all situations, the deactivation is associated to a decrease in the Platinum content, more active than Rhodium. The getter mechanism in the recovering gauzes is directional and consists in the absorption of PtO2 (or Pt0) on the surface of the Palladium-based wires. Next, the PtO2 reduces itself to Pt0 and forms the Pt-Pd alloy. The part of volatile Platinum and Palladium oxides which gest through the recovering pack, as well as the particles of Rh2O3 carried away mechanically, settle in the heat exchangers line and in the Platinum filter of the high pressure plant. The most part of impurities are associated to Fe, Ni, Cr, Cu and Mn,probably forming oxides. Finally, from the comparative analysis made between the diversity of plants studied, we can conclude that their different operating conditions have an extremely important influence in the performance of the catalytic and recovering systems used.

Car exhaust catalysts were introduced in the early 1980’s, to limit the release of pollutants such as hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. These catalysts contain noble metals such as palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt) and rhodium (Rh) and are able to simultaneously abate all three of the above-mentioned pollutants, hence the name three-way catalyst (TWC). The exposure to high temperatures (800-1000 °C) during operation and the presence of additives in gasoline and lubricants will, after a certain time, lower the activity of the TWC. High temperatures reduce the active area by causing the noble metals to agglomerate and sinter, whereas the additives alter the activity either by fouling the pores of the support material or by interacting with the metals. The main objective of this work was to develop a method which allows for the removal of contaminants (additives) from the washcoat and enables the redispersion of the active sites (noble metals), in an effort to recover lost catalyst activity. For this purpose, regeneration experiments were carried out on a wide spectrum of different commercial car exhaust catalysts. The influence of a thermal treatment in a controlled gas atmosphere, such as oxygen or hydrogen, and a redispersing agent, e.g. chlorine, on the activity of TWC was investigated by means of laboratory-scale activity measurements. Several complementary characterization methods such as SEM/TEM, XRD, BET, LA, XPS and TPR were employed to verify the effects of the regeneration treatments on the catalyst morphology (Papers I, II). The results show that partial regeneration of catalyst activity and noble metal dispersion was achieved after thermal treatment in an oxygen-chlorine rich atmosphere at temperatures below 500 °C. A wet-chemical regeneration treatment with dilute oxalic and citric acid solutions is evaluated in Paper III. These acidic solutions are able to dissolve and remove contaminants from the washcoat, thus partly restoring the catalyst activity. An investigation of the effects of an oxy-chlorine thermal treatment for regeneration of a ‘full-scale’ commercial automotive three-way catalyst was carried out (Paper IV). Improved catalyst activity for a high mileage catalyst could be observed, with emissions lowered by approximately 30 to 40 vol.% over the EC2000 driving cycle. The properties of fresh, aged and regenerated catalysts were then studied by means of labscale experiments, on a local as well as a global level using a mathematical model (Paper V). The model allows for comparison of the intrinsic properties of the active surface by deriving and tuning parameters of a fresh catalyst and verifying the activity of a regenerated or aged catalyst. / QC 20100812