Nitrous oxide pollution abatement is an important environmental
problem due to the high greenhouse potential of
N2O and its ozone-depleting properties. One of the available
options is the direct catalytic N2O decomposition. Kapteijn
et al. [1] presented an excellent review on catalytic N2O
decomposition. According to it, active catalysts often contain
copper, cobalt, iron, or noble metals such as palladium,
rhodium, ruthenium, etc. Different catalysts show different
sensitivity to other gases such as water, NOx, oxygen.
For example, copper catalysts are strongly inhibited by oxygen
but the iron-containing ones are not. NO poisons most
catalysts, however it promotes the reaction catalysed by Fe-
ZSM-5 since it removes the adsorbed oxygen to form NO2.
Generally all catalysts are poisoned by water to a different
extent. Thus most catalysts active in the presence of water,
NOx and oxygen were found to contain iron, cobalt,
rhodium, and ruthenium.
Influence of iron state and acidity of zeolites on the catalytic activity
of FeHBEA, FeHZSM-5 and FeHMOR in SCR of NO with NH3 and N2O
decomposition