The enhancement of NH₃-SCR performance for CeO₂ catalyst by CO pretreatment

CO pretreatment was found to effectively improve the SCR performance of CeO₂, with over 90% at about 300 °C. The larger specific area and the decrease of CeO₂ crystallization indicated the modification of the surface structure after CO pretreatment. Abundant Ce³⁺ species and active oxygen, better reducibility, and the higher surface adsorption capacity were mainly responsible for its enhanced SCR performance. DRIFT analysis revealed the presumed coexistence of two reaction routes that the L-H mechanism was related to the reaction temperature, while the reaction rate of E-R route was almost directly proportional to the NO concentration at a certain temperature, based on the kinetic calculation. In addition, the CO-pretreated CeO₂ also exhibited a better poisoning tolerance for SO₂ and H₂O and excellent thermal stability and circularity. Graphical abstract The process of NH₃-SCR reaction over CeO₂-CO catalyst.