Jointly published by React.Kinet.Catal.Lett. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest Vol. 93, No. 1, 19-25 (2008) and Springer, Dordrecht 10.1007/s11144-008-5187-8 0133-1736/2008/US$ 20.00. © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest. All rights reserved. RKCL5187 OXIDATION OF LEAN FORMALDEHYDE IN AIR OVER AN Au/CeO 2 CATALYST AND ITS KINETICS Xuzhuang Yang a*,c , Yuenian Shen a , Lili Bao a , Huaiyong Zhu b and Zhangfu Yuan c a College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, the Inner Mongolia University, Huhhot, 010021, P. R. China b School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia c Institute of Process Engineering, CAS, Beijing, 100080, P. R. China Received June 29, 2007, in revised form October 9, 2007, accepted October 15, 2007 Abstract The oxidation of low concentration formaldehyde in air over Au/CeO 2 , prepared by co-precipitation, was investigated. Power-law kinetic models were proposed and the parameters were estimated, which are r = -0.46 × e -14612 / RT C HCHO (303 K < T < 363 K) and HCHO / 34178 C 78 . 295 RT e r - × - = (363 K < T < 413 K). The mechanism of the reaction at low temperatures might be different from that at high temperatures. Keywords: Gold nanoparticles, kinetics, Au/CeO 2 , supported catalyst INTRODUCTION HCHO released to air from many industrial and civil processes such as painting, printing, pharmacy, shoe-making and room decoration etc., can cause serious health problems to human beings [1,2]. From 1980 to 2004, formaldehyde had been classified as definite human carcinogen three times by __________________________ * Corresponding author. Fax: 86-471-6578855; E-mail: xzyang2007@yahoo.com