Abstract
A range of catalysts comprising of platinum supported on silica, prepared by an impregnation method, have been studied for the total oxidation of naphthalene, which is a representative Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon. The influence of platinum loading and calcination temperature on oxidation activity was evaluated. Increasing the platinum loading up to 2.5 wt.% increased the catalyst activity, whilst a 5.0 wt.% catalyst was slightly less active. The catalyst containing the optimum 2.5 wt.% loading was most active after calcination in air at 550 °C. Characterisation by carbon monoxide chemisorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that low platinum dispersion to form large platinum particles, in combination with platinum in metallic and oxidised states was important for high catalyst activity. Catalyst performance improved after initial use in repeat cycles, whilst there was slight deactivation after prolonged time-on-stream.
Highlights
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), that when released into the atmosphere have been identified as detrimental to the environment and harmfulCatalysts 2015, 5 to health [1,2]
Experiments with the silica-based catalysts in this study have been carried out up to 300 °C, and conversion of naphthalene is attributed to surface initiated reactions, with the contribution from purely gas phase homogeneous reactions negligible
The reason for using the CO2 yield is that naphthalene is a polycyclic aromatic molecule, which can be readily adsorbed onto the surface of the catalyst, potentially leading to over estimation of oxidation activity, especially at lower temperatures [17]
Summary
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), that when released into the atmosphere have been identified as detrimental to the environment and harmfulCatalysts 2015, 5 to health [1,2]. A number of techniques are available to control the release of organic atmospheric pollutants, amongst these catalytic oxidation offers a number of significant advantages over competing options, as it provides a selective and low energy pathway to produce benign products [4]. Both metal oxide and noble metal-based catalysts have been widely investigated for total oxidation of VOCs. the total oxidation of PAHs have not been studied so extensively, but there are a number of studies in the literature, which have investigated the total oxidation of naphthalene as a model PAH [5]. Naphthalene is recognised as a suitable model PAH as it is the major PAH produced in many combustion processes and it is easy to handle due to its relatively low toxicity
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