Study of Nitric Oxide (no) Reduction with Carbon Monoxide 1 (co) as Reducing Agent over Copper Oxide Supported on 2 Mesoporous Alumina and Manganese Oxide 3

12 The activities of copper oxide supported on mesoporous alumina and manganese oxide 13 have been investigated for nitric oxide (NO) reduction using carbon monoxide (CO) as 14 reducing agent. The results showed that catalytic activity is strongly influenced by the 15 properties of supports. CuO supported on manganese oxide was found to be a more 16 active catalyst for the NO reduction as compared to CuO supported on alumina. 17 CuO/MnOx showed maximum 94% NO conversion due to combined activity of CuO 18 and MnOx. The physio-chemical properties of the catalyst and supports were 19 characterised by N2 adsorption, wide and low angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), 20 transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and temperature programmed reduction 21 (TPR). 22 INTRODUCTION 23 The family of nitrogen oxides (NOx) is major class of pollutants that contributes to 24 several environmental problems such as the green house effect, acid rain and 25 photochemical smog. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx is one technology for 26 end of pipe removal of NOx from power plant flue gas and automobile exhausts. As the 27 name implies the process involves selective reduction of NO in presence of a reducing 28 agent and a suitable catalyst. Since the inception of this technology, enormous research 29 has been done, both to identify a suitable reducing agent and an appropriate catalyst . 30 The reduction of NO in the presence of NH3 is the most widespread technology both in 31 presence and in absence of a catalyst, the catalytic process being less energy intensive.. 32 Various other reductants such as urea, hydrocarbons and hydrogen have been found to 33 effectively reduce NO. While most of these reducing agents functioning very well, their 34 procurement, transportation, and storage often hamper the process economics. While 35 residual hydrocarbons may be present in the gasoline and diesel engines exhaust, thus 36 providing an available source of reducing agent, their concentration is often found to be 37 insufficient. In the case of power plant flue gases, residual organic are not sufficient 38 large to effect reduction, therefore a external reduction agent is required. 39 In an attempt to find alternative source of reducing agent, the focus was drawn towards 40 utilising carbon monoxide (CO) as a potential reductant. In addition to being freely 41 available in the flue gas, the SCR of NOx by CO provides added advantage of CO 42 oxidation to CO2 in the same process. Nevertheless, this comes at the cost of reduced 43 activity in the presence of traditional SCR catalysts. In order to develop an efficient 44 NOx reduction technology it is imperative to investigate novel catalyst having enhanced 45 NO reduction in presence of CO. 46