CO Oxidation Performance of Japanese Cedar Charcoal Loaded with Copper-manganese Oxide Using a Ball Mill

Abstract

In this work, the Cu-Mn oxide modeled on hopcalite is used as CO oxidation catalyst. The Cu-Mn oxide was loaded on Japanese cedar charcoal for improving its CO oxidation performance by increasing the active area of the metal. Herein, the Japanese cedar charcoal loaded with the Cu-Mn oxide (CMC) was prepared as follows. First, the Cu-Mn oxide precursor obtained using a coprecipitation method was loaded on Japanese cedar sawdust using a ball mill, and then this loaded sawdust was carbonized. Furthermore, the performance of the CMC for CO oxidation in H₂-rich gas was evaluated. The difference in the catalyst activity was dependent on the types of metal salts used for the sample preparation, the molar ratio of Cu and Mn, and the carbonization temperature. The CO oxidation performance of the CMC increased with KMnO₄ treatment. The treated CMC did not reduce the concentration of H₂. Hence, the CMC is assumed to be useful as a CO oxidation catalyst for a fuel cell.