Catalytic combustion of methane over mixed oxides derived from Co–Mg/Al ternary hydrotalcites

CoxMg3 − x /Al composite oxides (xCoMAO-800) were prepared by calcination of CoxMg3 − x/Al hydrotalcites (x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, respectively) at 800 °C. The materials were characterized using XRD, TG-DSC, N2 adsorption–desorption and TPR. The methane catalytic combustion over the xCoMAO-800 was assessed in a fixed bed micro-reactor. The results revealed that cobalt can be homogenously dispersed into the matrices of the hydrotalcites and determines the structure, specific surface areas and porosity of the derived xCoMAO-800 oxide catalysts. The thermal stability and homogeneity of the hydrotalcites markedly depends on the cobalt concentration in the hydrotalcites. The Co-based hydrotalcite-derived oxides exhibit good activity in the catalytic combustion of methane. The catalytic activity over the xCoMAO-800 oxides enhances with increasing x up to 1.5, but subsequently decreases dramatically as cobalt loadings are further increased. The 1.5CoMAO-800 catalyst shows the best methane combustion activity, igniting methane at 450 °C and completing methane combustion around 600 °C. The catalytic combustion activity over the xCoMAO-800 oxides are closely related to the strong Co–Mg/Al interaction within the mixed oxides according to the TG-DSC, TPR and activity characteristics.