Cuprospinel

Cuprospinel is used in various industrial processes as a catalyst. An example is the water–gas shift reaction: H2O(v) + CO(g) → CO2(g) + H2(g) This reaction is particularly important for hydrogen production and enrichment. The interest of cuprospinel arises in that magnetite is a widely used catalyst for many industrial chemical reactions, such as the Fischer–Tropsch process, the Haber–Bosch process and the water-gas shift reaction. It has been shown that doping magnetite with other elements gives it different chemical and physical properties; these different properties sometimes allow the catalyst to work more efficiently. As such, cuprospinel is essentially magnetite doped with copper and this enhances magnetite's water gas shift properties as a heterogeneous catalyst.