Heterogeneous catalytic conversion of 4-chlorophenol via atomic hydrogen substitution induced by size-controlled polydisperse nanocobalt

Abstract

Hyroconversion of 4-Chlorophenol (4-CP) was induced via atomic hydrogen substitution and 0.5–2 M polydisperse cobalt nanoparticles (40–500 d.nm) which were synthesized via a modified-polyol route. The cobalt nanoparticles and hydrogen incursion in the 4-CP helped to enforce the hydroconversion (HDC) reaction of 4-CP. The reaction runs were conducted based on an initial 4-CP wastewater effluent concentration discharged from a pesticide company, different particle sizes, and reaction time. Also, NaOH was added as a proton scavenger to the reaction mixture in order to avoid catalyst-deactivation. Samples from the reactor were collected at different times in order to monitor the hydroconversion process. The Co-catalyst reduced the activation energy of the reaction, initiated the hydro-substitution reaction at an earlier time, as well as enhanced 4-CP hydroconversion. Of all the catalysts, the 2 M polydisperse-cobalt nanoparticles (PD-CoNPs) gave the best performance with a description that fits the desorption mechanism whose keqd value = 0.079.