The reducibility of the γ-Al2O3 supported Cu-Ag bimetallic and the individual mono-metallic catalysts and the effect of thermal treatment on the reducibility of these catalysts have been investigated with the temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) technique. It is found that different TPR profiles are produced with different metal contents and different copper species are present on the surface of catalysts. There is obvious difference between the TPR profiles of γ-Al2O3 supported Cu-Ag bimetallic and the mono-metallic catalysts and the displacement increase with the content of Ag. The order of activity of catalyst for benzene oxidation is: CuO-Ag2O/γ-Al2O3>CuO/γ-Al2O3>Ag2O/γ-Al2O3. The results show that the dispersion of copper species and the reducibility of the catalysts are affected by the variation of treatment temperature. The optimal dispersion of copper species occurs at a temperature between 500 and 900℃.

Key words: COPPER OXIDE, OXIDATION, CATALYST, ALUMINIUM OXIDE, BENZENE, TEMPERATURE PROGRAMMED REDUCTION, SILVER OXIDE