Effect of zirconia on hydrothermally synthesized Co3O4/TiO2 catalyst for NOx reduction from engine emissions

Abstract

Effect of zirconia on the 6 wt.% Co3O4/TiO2 catalyst for NOx reduction is investigated in this paper. Co3O4 /TiO2 catalyst was prepared by using hydrothermal method and then was promoted with zirconia by impregnation to get 8% wt. ZrO2-Co3O4/TiO2 catalyst. Catalysts were characterized by using XRD, SEM, and TGA. Catalysts real time activity was tested by coating them on stainless steel wire meshes, containing them in a mild steel shell and mounting them at the exhaust tailpipe of a 72 cm3 motorcycle engine. Zirconia promoted catalyst showed higher conversion efficiency of NOX than the simple Co3O4/TiO2 catalyst due to small crystalline size, fouling inhibition and thermal stability.