Abstract
Tungsten carbide (WC) nanostructures were prepared by carbothermal reduction (CR) of tungsten-impregnated pinewood-derived activated carbon (AC) at 1000 °C under an inert atmosphere. Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) surface area, pore structures of the AC, and catalyst samples were evaluated by N2 adsorption-desorption experiments. The structures of the catalysts were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The morphologies and particle structures of the synthesized WC nanoparticles were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The WC/AC material was used as support of the platinum catalysts for catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde (HCHO) from interior sources. Pt-WC/AC catalysts with different platinum loadings were assessed for the catalytic oxidation of HCHO at low temperature. The catalytic performance was found to be significantly influenced by reaction temperature, initial formaldehyde concentration, relative humidity, and space velocity. The testing results demonstrated that HCHO can be totally oxidized by the 1 wt% Pt-WC/AC catalyst in the gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) = 50,000 h−1 at 30 °C with a relative humidity (RH) of 40%.
Highlights
Formaldehyde (HCHO) is a colorless, flammable, strong-smelling organic compound [1,2] and is an important chemical feedstock as a precursor to many widely used materials and chemical compounds in manufactural industry [1,2]
The effect of initial concentration on HCHO conversion rate was investigated over the 1% Pt/activated carbon (AC) and 1% Pt-WC/AC catalysts
The activity and the stability of Pt-WC/AC catalysts were investigated for the complete oxidation of formaldehyde at low temperature (25–50 ◦C)
Summary
Formaldehyde (HCHO) is a colorless, flammable, strong-smelling organic compound [1,2] and is an important chemical feedstock as a precursor to many widely used materials and chemical compounds in manufactural industry [1,2]. Various techniques have been developed to remove HCHO from indoor air, including physical adsorption by porous adsorbent materials [7], chemical absorption [8], photocatalytic oxidation with ultraviolet (UV) irradiation [9], plasma degradation [10], and catalytic combustion [11] These methods are restricted by limited adsorption capacity, require light sources or expensive plasma equipment with high energy consumption, etc. TiO2, Fe2O3, ZrO2, CoO, CeO2, V2O5, MnO2, hydroxyapatite, and H-TiO2/H-C-TiO2 are reported by different groups [13,14]; due to their limited catalytic activity and stability, development of affordable and high performance transitional metal oxide catalysts for HCHO removal at low temperature is still a challenge [13]. The catalytic performance for complete oxidation of HCHO was examined under different process temperatures, formaldehyde concentrations, relative humidity, and velocity of the feeding gases
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