Catalysis Letters, Vol.78, No.1-4, 177-183, 2002
Influence of Pt loading on Al2O3 for the low temperature combustion of methanol with and without a trace amount of ammonia
Pt/Al2O3 catalysts with platinum contents of 0.1, 1.0 and 3.0 wt% were used for the low temperature combustion of methanol in the absence and the respective presence of a trace amount of ammonia. It is observed that ammonia inhibits the combustion of methanol, which is due to competition between methanol and ammonia for the same sites. For a fixed space velocity and without ammonia in the gas, the performances of the catalysts increase up to a Pt loading of 1.0 wt%. In the presence of ammonia, however, no upper limit of performance is observed with increased Pt content. The results are discussed in terms of both Pt-support interface and the Pt surface being active.