REDUCTION OF CUO-CONTAINING CATALYSTS, CUO .1. TPR AND TGA

For CuO/ZnO reduction has been shown [M.S.W. Vong et al., Catal. Lett., 4, 15 (1990)] to be faster and more extensive with CO than by H-2 and here this is shown to be the case for CuO itself, this being so then it may be preferable to characterize CuO-containing catalysts by temperature-programmed reduction with CO than with H-2. The activation energies of reduction (57-82 kJ/mol) are those expected for chemical reduction, but it is an important finding that the order with respect to hydrogen partial pressure (0.04) is extremely low and far removed from the value of unity often assumed. Different samples of CuO exhibit different reduction characteristics.