Facile synthesis strategy for the development of carbon fiber cloth supported palladium catalyst from spent Pd catalyst for low-temperature CO oxidation

Abstract

Metal supported catalysts are well-known for the effective conversion of carbon monoxide. Among different support materials that are generally employed, activated carbon-based materials are important because of their well-developed structural characteristics. This paper investigates the development of palladium (Pd) catalyst supported on activated carbon fiber cloth (CFC) as a potential scalable material for mitigation of environmental pollution by studying its carbon monoxide (CO) removal efficiency under ambient conditions. As a Pd source, the deactivated Pd/C catalyst was employed for the development of the Pd/CFC catalyst. Palladium was reduced using reducing agents of different reduction potential, i.e. , sodium borohydride and formaldehyde. The catalysts were characterized using atomic absorption spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, X-ray powder diffraction, BET surface area analyzer, temperature-programmed reduction and desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, H 2 chemisorption followed by CO efficiency studies. It was observed that the microporous nature of activated CFC affects the surface metal concentration of Pd 0 and Pd +2 and accordingly, the CO conversion activity. The study involves testing the dependency of moisture towards the catalyst and noticed that a higher moisture level causes a reduction in the CO conversion efficiency due to pore blockage. • Carbon Monoxide removal studies using Palladium impregnated activated carbon fiber cloth (Pd/CFC) was conducted. • A spent Pd/C catalyst was re-used as a metal precursor for catalyst preparation to make the process economically viable. • The Pd/CFC catalyst was prepared by incipient wetness impregnation method followed by liquid media reduction. • The effect of different reducing agents on the efficacy of cloth catalyst was studied. • The structural characteristics of Pd/CFC catalysts and its dependency on moisture for the catalytic activity was studied.