Influence of modifying additives on the catalytic activity and stability of Au/Fe2O3–MOx catalysts for the WGS reaction

The activity and stability of Au/Fe2O3–MO x catalysts (M = Zr, Mg, Ca, Ni, La, Cu, Zn, Al, Ba, Cr, Co, Ce, Mo, Bi, Ti, Mn) in water-gas shift reaction were investigated extensively. The WGS activity and stability of Au/Fe2O3 is improved significantly upon addition of ZrO2 and to a lesser extend MgO, CaO, NiO, La2O3, Cr2O3, CuO. In contrast, Bi, Ti and Mn oxides seriously decrease the catalytic activity while additions of Zn, Al, Ba, Co, Ce and Mo oxides do not influence evidently the catalytic activity and its stability. Based on the characterization using the methods of BET-surface area and pore structure XRF, XRD, and H2–TPR for some of as-prepared and spent samples, it could be concluded that the catalytic activity of gold catalysts supported on composite oxide of Fe2O3–MO x depends not only on the dispersion of the gold particles but also on the reduction property of composite oxide supports, regardless of the fluctuation of gold loading and some change of specific surface area and pore structure due to introduction of the modifying metal oxides. The improvement of catalytic stability may be attributed to the comparative stabilization of high dispersion of gold particles and uneasily sintering of Fe3O4 crystallites during the catalytic operation. However, the chemical (electronic) effects exerted by the modifying addition of metal oxides on the catalytic performance of gold catalyst may not be ruled out.