10 th International Symposium “Scientific Bases for the Preparation of Heterogeneous Catalysts” E.M. Gaigneaux, M. Devillers, S. Hermans, P. Jacobs, J. Martens and P. Ruiz (Editors) © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Solution Combustion Synthesis as intriguing technique to quickly produce performing catalysts for specific applications Stefania Specchia, Camilla Galletti, Vito Specchia Politecnico di Torino, Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy Abstract - rewritten Solution Combustion Synthesis (SCS) is becoming one of the most important ways to produce a wide range of advanced porous ceramic or metallic materials. These include ceramic oxide like nanostructured catalysts. SCS is an attractive alternative for the production of smart materials of high value compared to the more conventional and expensive preparation routes. SCS processes are characterized by relative medium heating oven temperatures (350-600°C), fast heating rates, short reaction times and very small residence time at high temperature. The final product is usually of high purity and well crystallized with nanometric size clusters. Furthermore, SCS, suitably adapted, is easily tunable to complex industrial supports to produce directly in situ structured catalysts. The present work deals with the analysis of low-environmental-impact premixed metal fiber burners (FeCrAlloy® fiber mat) for household applications. New catalytic burners based on Pd(LaMnO 3 ·2ZrO 2 ) catalyst were developed and tested in a partially modified commercial condensing boiler test rig fed with natural gas (NG). The catalytic burner presented a lower environmental impact, compared to the commercial bare burner, mainly in terms of CO. NO emissions were reduced, too, but in a slightly lower extent. The catalytic burner better stabilized the combustion process within the porous medium, maximizing the heat fraction transferred by radiation, cooling the flame temperature and enhancing the degree of completeness of NG combustion. Keywords: solution combustion synthesis, nanomaterials, catalysts, nitrate precursors, organic fuel, domestic appliances, natural gas combustion, CO/NO emissions 1. Introduction The chemical processing and synthesis of high performance technological catalysts requires the use of high purity precursors. Recently several attempts have been made to find out an intriguing technique to quickly produce performing catalysts for any kind of industrial application. In particular, methods based on “solution combustion synthesis” (SCS) have received a remarkable interest. These processes, in fact, make use of highly exothermic redox chemical reactions between metals and non-metals, to synthesize the desired ceramic nanomaterials [1-3]. SCS means the synthesis of compounds in a wave of chemical reaction (combustion) that propagates over starting reactive mixture owing to layer-by-layer heat transfer. Practically, it is an exothermic redox process in which the reaction between two or more reactants takes place in a self-sustaining regime leading to the formation of solid products of a higher value [1]. It is widely well-known in catalysis, that nanosized catalysts possess extremely high activity and selectivity [4,5]. Compared to other