Platinum-palladium catalysts for methane-fuelled heaters

• Author / Creator

  Wu, Xiaoxing

• Natural-gas fuelled catalytic heaters are commonly used in heating industrial space and remote location operations. Industrial units typically contain platinum that provides methane combustion at lower temperatures than non-catalytic burning. This work aimed to find a cost-efficient alternative to monometallic platinum catalyst by replacing some of platinum with less expensive palladium, which is also known for methane combustion activity. The task is complicated by non-uniform reactant profiles across the catalytic pad. Several Pd:Pt bimetallic catalysts were prepared by dry impregnation of commercial pads with metal precursors and tested in methane combustion with 5% water presence at two different methane-to-oxygen molar ratios (0.2 and 0.02). Pt1.6Pd catalyst (molar ratio) is recommended to replace monometallic platinum: it provides higher activity than monometallic Pt catalyst at 0.02 CH4-to-O2 ratio. At the 0.2 ratio, its activity is lower than that of Pt, but is sufficient for adequate heater operation.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Palladium
  • Impregnation
  • Catalyast
  • Platinum
  • Methane combustion
  • Heater

• Graduation date

  Fall 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R37D2QG1C

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.