Modeling of CO conversion over Co3O4 catalysts: non-monotonic effects of oxide loading and temperature
摘要
Carbon monoxide oxidation over Co3O4 catalysts supported on cordierite with oxide loadings ranging from 10 to 100 wt% was investigated in temperature-dependent light-off experiments performed under identical reactor operating conditions. The results reveal a pronounced non-monotonic (close-to-U-shaped) dependence of catalytic activity on Co3O4 loading. Catalysts with high oxide content achieve complete CO conversion, whereas intermediate loadings (30–50 wt%) exhibit the lowest conversion levels. At low Co3O4 contents, a partial recovery of catalytic activity is observed. To describe the combined influence of temperature and catalyst composition, a phenomenological logistic model was applied to construct a continuous response surface XCO(T,C). Analysis of this response surface confirms that the experimentally observed U-shaped dependence of CO oxidation activity on Co3O4 loading persists throughout the entire temperature–composition domain. The results indicate that CO oxidation activity is governed not only by the amount of cobalt oxide but also by morphology-related effects associated with variations in oxide loading.