Structural thermal and textural studies on cobalt oxide/alumina supported catalysts

CoO/Al₂O₃ catalysts containing amounts of cobalt ranging form 2 to 20% were prepared atpH 11 from neutral mesoporous alumina composed of γ-Al₂O₃ and poorly crystalline boehmite, and were then dried at 80?C. X-ray diffraction, DTA and TG techniques were used to study the structural changes produced upon thermal treatment up to 700?C. Soaking of the alumina in cobalt ammine complex solutions for a period of 10 days (the time required for equilibrium) resulted in a series of catalyst samples (I–V). Another sample (III-a) was soaked for a period of 5 days only in order to study the effect of the soaking time upon the equilibrium conditions. Cobalt aluminate (CoAl₂O₄) bands were characterized in all catalyst samples except III-a. They increased in intensity with increasing cobalt content. Surface species appeared in samples heated to 80?C, and others persisted at 150?C. Heating to temperatures above 200?C resulted in the formation of cobalt oxides, due to decomposition of the surface compounds. DTA and TG studies showed that this was more pronounced at higher concentrations of cobalt. Samples heated at 500?C and above did not undergo any further structural changes, except that the boehmite in the support was converted to γ-Al₂O₃. The variations in the surface parameters followed the same pattern as found previously 1], demonstrating that the catalyst samples are mesoporous, with retention of two ranges of pore size in most cases.