Energy Production, Decontamination, and Hydrogenation Reactions over Perovskite-Type Oxide Catalyst.

Abstract

Heterogeneous catalysis is an important tool in industrial processes because of the recoverabilityof the catalysts. Transition metal perovskites-type oxides, with the generalformula ABO3, offer attractive alternative to noble metal catalysts due to their high activity,high thermal stability, and low cost. Moreover, their physicochemical propertiescan be tailored to create a family of catalysts by varying the compositions of A and B.Indeed, the partial substitution at the A- and/or B-site with another metal cation stabilizesunusual oxidation states of the B cation with the simultaneous formation of structuraldefects. In particular, lanthanum-based perovskites have been used extensivelyand can be grouped into: (i) perovskites with oxygen vacancies as catalysts for oxidationreactions and (ii) perovskites as precursors to prepare nanosized catalysts for hydrogenationreactions. This chapter focuses on the use of pure and doped lanthanumperovskites as active and selective heterogeneous catalysts for catalytic energy productionreaction (DME combustion), decontamination reactions (methane, acetyl acetate,toluene, n-hexane, and soot combustion), and hydrogenation reactions (guaiacol, glycerol,and xylose hydrogenation).