Mechanism of NH3-SCR over P/CeO2 Catalysts Investigated by Operando Spectroscopies.

This study reports a comprehensive investigation into the active sites and reaction mechanism for the selective catalytic reduction of NO by NH3 (NH3-SCR) over phosphate-loaded ceria (P/CeO2). Catalyst characterization and density functional theory calculations reveal that H3PO4 and H2P2O6 species are the dominant phosphate species on the P/CeO2 catalysts under the experimental conditions. The reduction/oxidation half-cycles (RHC/OHC) were investigated using in situ X-ray absorption near-edge structure for Ce L3-edge, ultraviolet-visible, and infrared (IR) spectroscopies together with online analysis of outlet products (operando spectroscopy). The Ce4+(OH-) species, possibly adjacent to the phosphate species, are reduced by NO + NH3 to produce N2, H2O, and Ce3+ species (RHC). The Ce3+ species is reoxidized by aqueous O2 (OHC). The results from IR spectroscopy suggest that the RHC initiates with the reaction between NO and Ce4+(OH-) to yield Ce3+ and gaseous HONO, which then react with NH3 to produce N2 and H2O via NH4NO2 intermediates.

Bulk tungsten-substituted vanadium oxide for low-temperature NOx removal in the presence of water.

NH3-SCR (selective catalytic reduction) is important process for removal of NOx. However, water vapor included in exhaust gases critically inhibits the reaction in a low temperature range. Here, we report bulk W-substituted vanadium oxide catalysts for NH3-SCR at a low temperature (100-150 °C) and in the presence of water (~20 vol%). The 3.5 mol% W-substituted vanadium oxide shows >99% (dry) and ~93% (wet, 5-20 vol% water) NO conversion at 150 °C (250 ppm NO, 250 ppm NH3, 4% O2, SV = 40000 mL h-1 gcat-1). Lewis acid sites of W-substituted vanadium oxide are converted to Brønsted acid sites under a wet condition while the distribution of Brønsted and Lewis acid sites does not change without tungsten. NH4+ species adsorbed on Brønsted acid sites react with NO accompanied by the reduction of V5+ sites at 150 °C. The high redox ability and reactivity of Brønsted acid sites are observed for bulk W-substituted vanadium oxide at a low temperature in the presence of water, and thus the catalytic cycle is less affected by water vapor.

Simultaneous Determination of Manganese Peroxidase and Lignin Peroxidase by Capillary Electrophoresis Enzyme Assays.

Here, we developed an enzyme assay of manganese peroxidase (MnP) by capillary electrophoresis using an in-capillary reaction and applied it to a simultaneous assay of MnP and lignin peroxidase (LiP). The enzyme activity of MnP was determined from the peak area corresponding to Mn(III)-malonate produced by the plug-plug reaction between MnP and Mn(II) in a separation capillary. A background electrolyte containing 250 mM malonate buffer (pH 4.5) and 5 mM cetyltrimethylammonium bromide was employed for the separation of Mn(III)-malonate from MnP at -10 kV after a plug-plug reaction for 5 min. Although the assay permitted the determination of purified MnP, we found that both LiP and MnP have similar activities against their substrates, that is, LiP catalyzed the oxidation reaction of Mn(II) as well as MnP, whereas MnP catalyzed the oxidation reaction of veratryl alcohol which was the substrate used in the LiP assay developed previously. Thus, we proposed a method to discriminate MnP from LiP based on the difference in the activities of these enzymes to each substrate. Amounts of MnP and LiP in a mixture were successfully evaluated by the proposed method.