Catalytic oxidation of bis (2-chloroethyl) ether on vanadia titania nanocatalyst

Abstract

Catalytic oxidation of bis (2-chloroethyl) ether (CEE) was carried over 6wt.% nanocatalyst (VTN) in the presence of ozone. The VTN was prepared by sol–gel method, while the impregnated catalyst (VTI) was prepared for the sake of comparative study. The catalysts were characterized by BET-SA, CEE-TPD, NH3-TPD, H2-TPR, XRD, SEM EDAX and TEM analyses. TPR and TPD data reveal that more acid and redox site was observed on nanocatalyst compared to that of conventional catalyst. The Brønsted acid sites were relatively more on nanocatalyst which were responsible for the higher ozone decomposition at low temperatures. The effects of O3/CEE ratio, reaction temperature, gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) and relative humidity (RH) were also investigated. The nanocatalyst exhibited the better performance, at low temperature (150°C) with high selectivity to carbon oxides. The transmission electron microscope data reveal that the sol–gel catalysts’ average particles size was 14. At 10% of RH, the complete conversion of CEE into carbon oxides was observed for nanocatalyst at 100°C with long-term stability. The ozone decomposition data reveal that the particle size and acidity had significant influence up to 100°C, whereas the thermal effects are predominant over the particle size above 150°C. A plausible reaction mechanism was proposed based upon the experimental data.