Enhanced Performance of Supported Ternary Metal Catalysts for the Oxidation of Toluene in the Presence of Trichloroethylene

Abstract

Chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs), even in small quantities, can cause Pt-based catalyst poisoning. Improving the low-temperature chlorine resistance of catalysts is of vital importance for industrial application, although it remains challenging. Considering actual industrial production, a TiO2-supported ternary metal catalyst was prepared in this work to study the catalytic oxidation of multicomponent VOCs (toluene and trichloroethylene (TCE)). Among all of the samples, PtWRu/TiO2 and PtWCr/TiO2 exhibited the best catalytic performance for toluene oxidation. In the mixed VOC oxidation, the PtWCr/TiO2 sample showed the best catalytic activity for toluene combustion (a toluene conversion of 90% was achieved at 258 °C and a space velocity of 40,000 mL g−1 h−1, and the specific reaction rate and turnover frequency at 215 °C were 44.9 × 10−6 mol gPt−1 s−1 and 26.2 × 10−5 s−1). The PtWRu/TiO2 sample showed the best catalytic activity for TCE combustion (a TCE conversion of 90% was achieved at 305 °C and a space velocity of 40,000 mL g−1 h−1, and the specific reaction rate and turnover frequency at 270 °C were 9.0 × 10−6 mol gPt−1 s−1 and 7.3 × 10–5 s−1). We concluded that the ternary metal catalysts could greatly improve chlorine desorption by increasing the active lattice oxygen mobility and surface acidity, thus reducing chlorinated byproducts and other serious environmental pollutants. This work may serve as a reasonable design reference for solving more practical industrial production emissions of multicomponent VOCs.