Catalytic combustion of acetonitrile, ethylenediamine and nitromethane over supported CuO catalysts

Abstract

Supported CuO catalysts have been employed to investigate the catalytic combustion of acetonitrile, ethylenediamine and nitromethane. The catalytic activity depends on the nature of support. The difference in activity of supported CuO catalyst is because of the reducibility of CuO over catalyst, as confirmed by temperature programmed reduction (TPR) studies. When carbon atom in nitrogen-containing compound is oxidized totally to form CO₂, N atom is oxidized to form N₂, N₂O and _NO2. N₂ selectivity in the case of nitromethane oxidation decreases monotonously with reaction temperature. However, N₂ selectivity in the case of acetonitrile end ethylenediamine oxidation goes through a minimum. The possible reason of the minimum in N₂ selectivity is that product NO₂ and/or NO reacts with the -CN and -NH₂ groups of acetonitrile and ethylenediamine molecule, and produces N₂ at higher temperature. The N₂ selectivity also depends on the nature of nitrogen-containing compound.