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Cerium Oxide CeO2


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Posted

Anyone here have experience using CeO2 as an oxidizer or catalyst?

 

I got some 3 micron CeO2 the other day from Glass Technology, Inc. Cost was about $27 per pound + shipping. The powder I got is intended to be used to polish (remove small scratches from) glass. I've read about other, more interesting uses of CeO2, including as a biodiesel additive; it improves combustion and reduces NOx emissions. It's also used as coating material in self-cleaning ovens. When heated, it gives up oxygen; as it cools, it grabs oxygen from the air to restore its lattice structure.

 

I've used it in small test batch mixes and have found it to create fuller, brighter, cleaner flash-type burns. One splendid mix included KNO3 + CeO2 + Al + Sb2S3. Produced a large, bright, fast, clean fireball. Another mix that produced similar results included NH4ClO4 + CeO2 + Zn.

 

If you've had any experience with CeO2, I'd be most interested knowing what it is.

Posted

I seem to recall that some rare earth oxides have been used in some low smoke flash compositions

 

may be worthwhile checking in ellerns book

 

your results above may lend some support for this

Posted

Perhaps a bit off topic, but the biodiesel angle seems very strange to me.

 

As indicated by the suppier's main use, it is an abrasive.

 

How that reliably gets past filters without choking the filter is problem #1, and the detrimental effects of an abrasive on the injectors, cylinder walls, rings, piston & piston skirts is problem #2.

 

With a Mohs hardness of 6, none of the items listed above is immune to its abrasive effects.

 

I wonder if this use is commonplace, meaning an engineered solution to a problem, or the result of "hey, I got a drum of cerium oxide, lets see what that does".

 

DAS

Posted

Dave 321,

 

Thanks.

 

Varmint,

 

Apparently, the CeO2 used in diesel is nano-sized. Just a guess. But it improves diesel fuel.

Posted

I used (long ago) to use 3u and 0.3u abrasive as coarse and fine preparation for micro metalurgical observations. I would NOT be using them in precision machines like diesel pumps and injectors.

  • 9 years later...
Posted

Is it possible that CeO2 could be used for dragon eggs?

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