Selective reduction of nitrogen oxide with propene on protonated β-alumina catalyst: Design of active site for catalytic reaction Original Research Article

Protonated (H)-β-alumina is a two-dimensional ion conductor in which conduction carrier is a proton which can move easily. In order to design active sites for the catalytic reaction, the role of the proton in the layer structure of the H-β-alumina for the selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxide with propene was investigated. Following that, the catalytic activity of the H-β-alumina was compared with that of the γ-alumina. The H-β-alumina showed much higher activity and selectivity for this reaction than the γ-alumina. it was found that the H-β-alumina possessed Brønsted acidity, although γ-alumina shows Lewis acidity. It was shown that the acidic sites of the H-β-alumina involved the protons in the conduction planes and by building up the conduction planes, the activity was successfully increased.