Performance and kinetics of catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde over copper manganese oxide catalyst

Abstract

Thermo-catalytic oxidation (TCO) has a great potential for formaldehyde removal in terms of both efficiency and lifetime. This study investigated the performance and kinetics of hopcalite catalyst (CuO–MnO2) for indoor formaldehyde removal. The effect of inlet concentration (typical indoor level: 180–1300 ppb) and moisture concentration (typical indoor level: 2000–30,000 ppm) on the reaction rate was studied at four temperature levels (25–180 °C). The relative humidity shows significant influence on the catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde by CuO/MnO2, especially at room temperature level. The catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde by CuO/MnO2 follows the traditional L–H model. The L–H model described the reaction process best. Furthermore, the reaction kinetics considering multiple parameters including concentration, moisture concentration and temperature was proposed based on the L–H model. Good agreement was found between experimental data and the prediction with the modified L–H model.