A high performance barium-promoted cobalt catalyst supported on magnesium–lanthanum mixed oxide for ammonia synthesis

Ammonia synthesis was performed over a barium-promoted cobalt catalyst supported on magnesium–lanthanum mixed oxide. The rate of NH(3) formation over this catalyst was about 3.5 times higher than that over the unpromoted catalyst at 9 MPa and 400 °C. Furthermore, no sign of thermal deactivation was observed during long-term overheating at 600 °C for 360 h. The results of physicochemical studies, including XRPD, DRIFTS, H(2)-TPD, CO(2)-TPD, N(ads) + H(2) TPSR and kinetic analysis, revealed that the addition of Ba promoter increased the surface basicity of the catalyst and modified the adsorption properties of the Co surface towards H(2) and NH(3). The decreased adsorption strength of the corresponding sites towards hydrogen and ammonia resulted in greater availability of active sites in the Ba-promoted cobalt catalyst. These characteristics are considered to have a profound effect on the performance of this catalyst in NH(3) synthesis.