Catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide over copper oxide with interfering gases involved for industrial buildings: An experimental and theoretical study.

[Display omitted] • CO can be catalyzed into CO 2 via three routes with different TS energy barriers. • Impurity of lattice and small specific surface areas cause low CO conversion ratios. • Interfering gases work via competitive adsorption, oxidizability and hydrogen bonds. • Activation energy is sensitive to temperature power exponents or temperature. • Chemical reactions with SO 2 or NO involved occur in reality to affect CO conversion. With the intention of thoroughly eliminating carbon monoxide (CO) from indoor environment, it is one of the most promising methods of converting it into carbon dioxide (CO 2) via catalytic oxidation processes. Therefore, in this study, catalytic oxidation mechanisms of CO over copper oxide (CuO) with interfering gases involved are investigated via theoretical calculations and experimental verification, which mainly include basic catalytic oxidation processes over CuO, effects of different interfering gases and analyses of thermodynamic features. According to results, catalytic oxidation of CO over CuO can be performed in three different routes and rate-determining transition-state (TS) energy barriers vary a lot from route to route at high temperature owing to different thermal stability. In the meantime, SO 2 , H 2 O and NO are theoretically proved to affect catalytic oxidation of CO via competitive adsorption, high oxidizability and hydrogen bonds, which are accompanied with different sensitivities to changes of temperature or temperature power exponents. In experiments, it is found that impurity of lattice planes and small specific surface areas in CuO are key to restricting catalytic oxidation performances. What is more, some extra chemical reactions in experiments (e.g. SO 2 + O 2 + CuO → CuSO 4 , NO + O 2 + CO → CO 2 + NO) caused by interfering gases colossally affect catalytic oxidation performances of CuO. The whole study provides crucial information for indoor air purification in industrial buildings by using cheap adsorbents/catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]