Ammonia decomposition catalyst with resistance to coexisting sulfur compounds

Abstract

A cheap and disposal catalyst will be required for the decomposition of ammonia in the presence of sulfur compounds. The possibility of iron ore and red mud as the ammonia decomposition catalyst was investigated using pure or diluted ammonia containing hydrogen sulfide as a reactant. Among the catalysts tested, red mud had the highest catalytic activity for the ammonia decomposition in the presence of hydrogen sulfide. On the other hand, a relatively low conversion of ammonia was observed using a nickel-based commercial catalyst for the ammonia decomposition. The deactivation behavior of an iron ore catalyst caused by sulfur poisoning depended on the pretreatment atmosphere before the reaction; namely, the deactivation was observed for the H 2 pretreatment, while the high level of ammonia conversion remained constant for the CO pretreatment. From the X-ray diffraction pattern of the catalysts, the used iron ore catalyst pretreated in the CO atmosphere included FeC x, which was also included in the red mud that was active for the ammonia decomposition. FeC x may be responsible to the sulfur poisoning resistance. © 2005 The Japan Institute of Metals.