Catalytic performance of La1−xErxCoO3 perovskite for the deoxidization of coal bed methane and role of erbium in a catalyst

Abstract

The effective utilization of coal bed methane (CBM) is very significant for energy utilization and environmental protection, reducing significantly greenhouse gas methane emission. In this paper, La_1−xEr_xCoO₃ perovskite (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4) catalysts for the catalytic deoxidization of CBM were prepared by a co-precipitation method and were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), laser Raman spectroscopy (LRS), H₂ and CH₄ temperature-programmed reduction (H₂, CH₄-TPR), CO pulse and N₂adsorption/desorption techniques. The results show that the amount of Er affects obviously the physicochemical and catalytic properties of La_1−xEr_xCoO₃, and when x = 0.2, La_0.8Er_0.2CoO₃ exhibits the best activity for deoxidization of CBM, because Er doping promotes the activity and migration of the lattice oxygen of La_0.8Er_0.2CoO₃. The influences of the operation parameters (methane concentration, oxygen concentration and space velocity) on the catalytic deoxygenation of CBM and the kinetics behaviours were investigated. The reaction order of removing oxygen is 0.9 for methane partial pressure and −0.6 for oxygen partial pressure.