Modified bentonite-derived materials as catalystsfor selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides

In the last few years, cationic layered clays, including bentonites have been investigated as potentialcatalysts for SCR DeNOxsystems. In this work, bentonite as the representative of layered clays wasmodified in order to obtain an alternative, low-cost NH3–SCR catalyst. Samples of raw clay wereactivated with HCl or HNO3, treated with C2H2O4and subsequently pillared with alumina by the ion-exchange. Afterwards, the modified materials were impregnated with iron and copper. The obtainedcatalysts were characterized by XRD and FT-IR. SCR catalytic tests carried out over analyzed samplesindicated the conversion of NO of approximately 90% for the most active sample. The type of acidused for modification and the type of active phase strongly influenced the catalytic properties of theanalyzed materials.