Mechanochemical synthesis of alumina-based catalysts enriched with vanadia and lanthana for selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides

Novel alumina-based materials enriched with vanadia and lanthana were successfully synthesized via in situ modification using a mechanochemical method, and were applied in ammonia-induced selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides (SCR process). The synthesis was optimized in terms of the ball milling time (3 or 5 h), vanadium content (0.5, 1 or 2 wt% in the final product), and lanthanum content (0.5 or 1 wt% in the final product). Vanadium (V) oxide was immobilized on an alumina support to provide catalytic activity, while lanthana was introduced to increase the affinity of nitrogen oxides and create more active adsorption sites. Mechanochemical synthesis successfully produced mesoporous materials with a large specific surface area of 279–337 m2/g and a wide electrokinetic potential range from 60 to (− 40) mV. Catalytic tests showed that the incorporation of vanadia resulted in a very large improvement in catalytic performance compared with pristine alumina, increasing its efficiency from 14 to 63% at 400 °C. The best SCR performance, a 75% nitrogen oxide conversion rate at a temperature of 450 °C, was obtained for alumina enriched with 2 and 0.5 wt% of vanadium and lanthanum, respectively, which may be considered as a promising result.