TEMPERATURE-PROGRAMMED REDUCTION IN CATALYSIS - A CRITICAL-EVALUATION OF THE METHOD

Temperature-Programmed Reduction (TPR) has been critically tested by carrying out experiments at different operating conditions on both copper-based catalysts and pure copper oxides (CuO, Cu2O). In this work we give experimental evidence that, even if interference caused by mass transfer limitations or dispersion is removed, the reduction profiles are markedly affected by artefacts when an inadequate combination of the typical TPR operating variables is used. Furthermore, an attempt of tracing back to the artefacts origin is also effected