AMBIENT-TEMPERATURE CO OXIDATION USING COPPER MANGANESE OXIDE CATALYSTS PREPARED BY COPRECIPITATION - EFFECT OF AGING ON CATALYST PERFORMANCE

Copper manganese oxides are prepared using a coprecipitation procedure and studied for the oxidation of CO at ambient temperature. In partic ular, the effect of the ageing time, i.e. the time that the precipitat e remains in contact with the precipitating medium, is investigated. I t is shown that this parameter is of crucial importance in controlling the catalytic performance and that catalysts which are aged for less than or equal to 30 min or greater than or equal to 300 min give the b est performance. Preliminary characterisation using powder X-ray diffr action indicates that a combination between CuO and copper manganese o xide may be responsible for the enhanced activity observed with these samples.