Nitrous oxide is known as a greenhouse gas and a severe contributor to ozone layer destruction, thus its decomposition into N2 and O2 is a topic of vital interest for catalytic chemistry. The most promising catalytic materials for direct N2O decomposition are based on cobalt spinels. For practical applications, due to the high price of cobalt, the spinel phase should be dispersed on a low-cost support, such as alumina extrudates. Despite the highly activity in N2O decomposition, the catalysts performance decreases in the presence of contaminants in the tail gases of nitric acid plants. Read more
