Toxic chromium treatment induce amino-assisted electrostatic adsorption for the synthesis of highly dispersed chromium catalyst

Abstract

Removal of toxic Cr (VI) from aqueous solutions using silicon-based adsorbents has been widely investigated. Meanwhile, contradictory between highly dispersed active Cr species and high Cr loading over commercial Cr-based catalyst was inevitable. In this work, amino-assisted electrostatic adsorption from toxic Cr (VI) treatment was developed to prepare highly dispersed Cr oxides catalysts supported on MCM-41. The Cr loading was as high as 15 wt%, and structure characters of the catalysts were well-reserved. As a result, electrostatic adsorption and subsequent complexation from negatively charged Cr (VI) species and positively charged ammonium groups made a positive contribution to the appearance of highly dispersed mono Cr species, which gave rise to improved non-oxidative propane dehydrogenation (PDH) activity. In contrast, the agglomeration of Cr species and lower PDH activity were observed on the sample synthesized using the traditional wet impregnation method. Besides, the transformation of Cr (VI) to active Cr (III) sites over the catalyst was proved by the designed in-situ H2-TPR, ex-situ UV–vis and Raman spectra results. This procedure reflects a new avenue of green chemistry, which can recycle waste Cr adsorbents as efficient PDH catalysts.