Volatile Organic Pollutants Research Articles

PengaruhVariasi Konsentrasi Zno Pada Karbon Aktif Terhadap Band Gap Setelah Impregnasi

ZnO semiconductors are good photocatalysts for degrading volatile organic pollutants into CO2 and H2O. Activated carbon has a high absorption capacity, and contains amorphous carbon. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of variations in the concentration of ZnO on activated carbon on the band gap after impregnation. Determination of Bandgap value was determined using UV-DRS with the Tauc Plot method. The effect of variations in ZnO concentration on activated carbon on the band gap after impregnation shows the band gap value. The change in band gap value is caused by electron resonance when electrons from ZnO interact with polycyclic aromatic activated carbon. At the 20% variation there is a widening of the band gap value caused by a short wavelength shift. The conclusion obtained is that the characteristics of the AC-ZnO catalyst have band gap values ​​for each variation, namely 2.69 eV, 2.7 eV, 2.97 eV, 4.85 eV and 3.0 eV. The band gap values ​​increased with increasing concentrations of ZnO 5%, 10% and 15%.

Pyrolysis and Co-Combustion of Semi-Dry Sewage Sludge and Bituminous Coal: Kinetics and Combustion Characteristics

To reduce the energy consumption and cost of the drying of sewage sludge (SS) and to ensure stability during combustion, the pyrolysis and co-combustion characteristics of semi-dry SS after the dehydration of flocculant and bituminous coal (BC) were studied in this work. The results show that the decrease in moisture content accelerates the release of volatile substances, and the increase in heating rate can also enhance the release of water and volatile matters. Furthermore, in the co-combustion of semi-dry SS and BC, the increase in mixing ratio (from 0% to 60%) of semi-dry SS caused the ignition and burnout temperature to decrease from 481 °C to 214 °C and from 702 °C to 627 °C, respectively. During co-combustion, the infrared spectra showed that the temperature range of 300–700 °C was the main gas precipitation area, and the main gaseous products were CO2, NOx, SO2, and volatile organic pollutants (VOCs).

Pretreatment Hydrolysis Acidification/Two-Stage AO Combination Process to Treat High-Concentration Resin Production Wastewater

The rapid development of the resin industry has led to a large amount of high-concentration resin production wastewater, which has created serious water pollution problems while limiting the development of related enterprises. In this study, a combined pretreatment hydrolysis acidification/two-stage anaerobic oxic (AO) process for high-concentration resin production wastewater was constructed, and the effect of operation time on the treatment efficiency of the hydrolysis acidification and the two-stage AO unit was investigated using chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), and NH3-H (ammonia nitrogen) as indicators. The effect of operation time on the treatment efficiency of the hydrolysis acidification and the two-stage AO unit was investigated. Results showed that the pretreatment of “alkaline digestion + ozone oxidation” could effectively remove volatile phenols and phenolic organic pollutants from the wastewater. The average removal rates of COD, TN, and NH3-H (ammonia nitrogen) of resin production were 91.96%, 85.35%, and 85.67%, respectively. The average concentrations of final biochemical effluent were 404.7, 21.4, and 11.4 mg/L, respectively.

Catalytic oxidation of toluene over B‐site doped La‐based perovskite LaNixB1−xO3 (B = Co, Cu) catalysts

AbstractA series of LaNixB1−xO3 (B = Co, Cu) perovskite catalysts were prepared by sol–gel method and applied in toluene degradation. The effects of different calcination temperatures and time on the performance of perovskite catalysts for toluene were investigated. And the CO2 yield was also carried out on as‐prepared catalysts. The results showed that a small amount of Co‐doping in B site of LaNiO3 could significantly improve its toluene degradation, while the substitution of Ni with Cu could not effectively enhance its activity. When the Ni/Co molar ratio in LaNixCo1−xO3 perovskite was 3:1, LaNi0.75Co0.25O3 catalyst exhibited the best activity, and it showed relatively short time and low temperature (T90 = 225°C, T90, corresponding to 90% conversion) for toluene degradation. Therefore, LaNi0.75Co0.25O3 catalyst has a broad prospect in the degradation of volatile organic pollutants.

Performance and implications of forward osmosis-membrane distillation hybrid system for simultaneous treatment of different real produced water streams

This study investigates the simultaneous treatment of different real produced water streams using forward osmosis-membrane distillation (FO-MD) hybrid system. The water–oil separator outlet (WO) was used simultaneously as FO draw solution (DS) and MD feed solution (FS). The FO process generated stable average fluxes of 13.6 L/m2/h and 15.8 L/m2/h with desalter effluent (DE) and wash water (WW) as FO feed streams, while MD produced 13.2 L/m2/h and 11 L/m2/h, respectively. Monovalent ions induced internal concentration polarization and CaSiO3 colloidal scaling on the support layer reduced the FO flux. Further FO flux reduction was caused by CaSO4 and NaCl crystals on the active layer. Moreover, CaSO4 created partial pore covering while oil and grease depicted pore clogging of the MD membrane, which decreased the MD flux. Volatile fatty acids and organic nano pollutants reached MD permeate and FO FS. Humic acid scaling was fully recovered by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid by masking calcium ions and reducing the pH. No membrane wetting was observed in the system. No bacteria were found in real streams as analyzed with Epifluorescence microscopy, eliminating the potential of microbial fouling. The hybrid system showed > 93 % removal of oil, inorganics and organics, making the permeate quality excellent for re-injection or industrial reuse. The FS streams were concentrated by 77–84 % resulting in smaller disposal volumes. No utilization of chemicals and water makes this hybrid concept practical and sustainable. The findings of this study can serve as design criteria for future onsite pilot plant applications.

Exocrine pancreatic cancer and living near to waste sites containing hazardous organic chemicals, New York State, USA - an 18-year population-based study.

The etiology of exocrine pancreatic cancer (EPC) remains unknown except for family history and smoking. Despite recent medical advances, rates of pancreatic cancer incidence and mortality are increasing. Although existing evidence suggests a potentially causal relationship between environmental chemical exposures and pancreatic cancer, whether residential exposure impacts pancreatic cancer rates remains unknown. The authors identified 28 941 patients diagnosed with exocrine pancreatic cancer in New York State exclusive of New York City for the years 1996-2013. Descriptive statistics and negative binomial regression were used in this ecological study to compare pancreatic cancer hospitalization rates among patients who lived in zip codes with hazardous waste sites (HWSs) containing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and volatile organic pollutants (VOCs) compared with clean zip codes with no identified hazardous waste sites. The authors assessed the effect of selected known and suspected human carcinogens on the EPC hospitalization rates by subgroup analyses. Compared with the clean sites, the pancreatic cancer hospital discharge rate in the "VOCs without POPs" and "VOCs and POPs" sites, after adjustment for potential confounders were 1.06 (95% CI: 1.03-1.09) and 1.05 (95% CI: 1.01-1.08), respectively. In the analysis by specific chemicals, rate ratios (RR) for the benzene (RR = 1.12) and ethylbenzene (RR = 1.34) in the non-chlorinated VOCs group, trichloroethylene (RR = 1.07) and tetrachloroethylene (RR = 1.11) in the chlorinated VOCs group, chlorinated pesticides (RR = 1.11) and PCBs (RR = 1.05) in the POPs groups were statistically significant (p-values <0.05) compared with clean sites. Compared with the clean sites, the pancreatic cancer hospital discharge rate in the "VOCs without POPs" and "VOCs and POPs" sites, after adjustment for potential confounders were 1.06 (95% CI: 1.03-1.09) and 1.05 (95% CI: 1.01-1.08), respectively. In the analysis by specific chemicals, rate ratios (RR) for the benzene (RR = 1.12) and ethylbenzene (RR = 1.34) in the non-chlorinated VOCs group, trichloroethylene (RR = 1.07) and tetrachloroethylene (RR = 1.11) in the chlorinated VOCs group, chlorinated pesticides (RR = 1.11) and PCBs (RR = 1.05) in the POPs groups were statistically significant (p-values <0.05) compared with clean sites. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2022;35(4):459-71.

(Digital Presentation) Cold Plasma-Enhanced N-Doped Carbon Coating over MOF Endorsed Metal Oxide Nano Seed Embedded Carbon Fabric for Ultra-Long Life Flexible Energy Storage Application

The deformable electronic devices such as flexible, foldable, bendable, wearable, etc., are deemed the future of portable electronics, which could only be realized through the proper design of an energy storage unit that could power them. Herein, we report the conception of an ultrastable, binderless flexible electrode/substrate configuration that can be implemented in various energy storage applications such as supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, and alike. Firstly, the conductive carbon fabric was electrochemically deposited with nickel nanospheres; then the ZIF-67 metal-organic framework (MOF) promoted metal hydroxide nanostructures were grown over the Ni-CCF substrate. As grown nanostructures were then embedded inside the CCF through a meticulous optimization process varying the calcination temperature and gas concentrations. The metal seed embedded CCF was then coated with the hydrocarbons, the precursors of which are generally known volatile organic compounds and pollutants such as C2H4, CH4, CO2, and NH3 through the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma at atmospheric pressure and temperature. The carbonization of the final product results in the ultra-robust flexible electrode with metal-oxide nano seeds embedded CCF, coated with ~20nm nitrogen-doped carbon thin film which will be an excellent electrode material for an ultra-long life flexible energy storage system. Figure 1

Henry's Law Constants and Indoor Partitioning of Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds.

Microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) play an essential role in many environmental fields, such as indoor air quality. Long-term exposure to odorous and toxic MVOCs can negatively affect the health of occupants. Recently, the involvement of surface reservoirs in indoor chemistry has been realized, which signifies the importance of the phase partitioning of volatile organic pollutants. However, reliable partition coefficients of many MVOCs are currently lacking. Equilibrium partition coefficients, such as Henry's law constant, H, are crucial for understanding the environmental behavior of chemicals. This study aims to experimentally determine the H values and their temperature dependence for key MVOCs under temperature relevant to the indoor environment. The H values were determined with the inert gas-stripping (IGS) method and variable phase ratio headspace (VPR-HS) technique. A two-dimensional partitioning model was applied to predict the indoor phase distribution of MVOCs and potential exposure pathways to the residences. The findings show that the MVOCs are likely distributed between the gas and weakly polar (e.g., organic-rich) reservoirs indoors. Temperature and the volume of reservoirs can sensitively affect indoor partitioning. Our results give a more comprehensive view of indoor chemical partitioning and exposure.

Selective etching of Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3-δ ceramic for solar evaporator with photocatalytic purification

The ultimate goal of solar driven water evaporation is to obtain clean water without volatile organic pollutants. Current strategies mainly depend on the integration of the photo-thermal conversion and photocatalytic degradation by a multi-step composite technique. In this work, a facile nitric acid etching method was adopted to prepare the photothermal-catalytic bifunctional material (Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3-δ-Co3O4). The effect of the acid-etching treatment on the Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3-δ surface evolution was investigated. The Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3-δ (SSC5) surface was selectively reconstructed, and the catalytic active B-site cobalt cation was randomly exposed after the acid-etching treatment. The unique structure of SSC5-Co3O4 was beneficial to the electrons transport between Co3O4 and SSC5, as well as the solar absorbance. The nitric acid-etched SSC5 honeycomb ceramic exhibited a solar absorption of 80%, resulting in an evaporation rate of 7.25 kg·m−2·h−1 under a simulated sunlight of 1000 mW·cm−2. Besides, the etched SSC5 exhibited the ability for pollutant (Congo red) degradation. The as-prepared acid-etched SSC5 honeycomb ceramic could integrate the solar evaporation with pollutant degradation, which has a promising application in the pure water production.

Rapid determination of 30 volatile organic compounds in workplace air by gas chromatography

Objective: To establish a method for rapid detection of DB-WAX capillary column and determination of the workplace air in 30 kinds of volatile organic pollutants. Methods: In August 2020, N-pentane, n-hexane, methylcyclohexane, octane, Acetone, ethyl acetate, butanone, benzene, 3-pentanone, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, toluene, butyl acetate, 2-hexanone, Isoamyl acetate, ethylbenzene, p-xylene, m-xylene, amyl acetate, o-xylene, chlorobenzene, styrene, cyclohexanone, P-chlorotoluene, bromobenzene, M-dichlorobenzene, p-dichlorobenzene, O-dichlorobenzene, o-Chlorotoluene, 1, 2 , 4-trichlorobenzene of 30 kinds of substances in air were collected by activated carbon tube. After analysis by carbon disulfide, the analytical solution was analyzed by DB-WAX column and determined by FID detector. Results: The above 30 kinds of volatile organic pollutants had good separation effect, the correlation coefficient of the standard curve was above 0.999, the relative standard deviation was 0.1%-3.2%, the desorption efficiency was 77.0%-117.1% , the lower limit of quantitation was 0.33-5.33 μg/ml, and the lowest quantitation concentration was 0.22-3.55 mg/m(3), the recoveries ranged was 95.4%-104.9%. Conclusion: The method can effectively separate and accurately determine 30 volatile organic compounds in these workplaces, and the method is simple and quick.

Tuning Tiδ+-Vo·-Ptδ+ interfaces over Pt/TiO2 catalysts for efficient photocatalytic oxidation of toluene

• Ti δ+ -Vo·-Pt δ+ is constructed in Pt/TiO 2 -C via reduction–oxidation treatment. • Ti δ+ -Vo·-Pt δ+ provides abundant intermediates for the photocatalysis reaction. • More reactive oxygen species can realize the direct opening of aromatic ring. • The mineralization rate of Pt/TiO 2 -C is improved by 15% compared with Pt/TiO 2 . Promoting the ring-opening process is vital to increase the mineralization of aromatic volatile organic compounds. Rational regulation of metal-support interaction is essential for the opening of the aromatic ring over Pt/TiO 2 catalysts. Herein, the Pt/TiO 2 -C catalyst with Ti δ+ -Vo·-Pt δ+ interface obtained by reverse electron transfer is successfully regulated via reduction–oxidation treatment for efficient photocatalytic degradation of toluene. This structure accelerates the pre-activation of toluene to generate abundant reactive intermediate species for the photocatalysis reaction. On the other hand, the special interface endows Pt/TiO 2 -C the ability to produce more reactive oxygen species under illumination, which can synergistically promote the direct opening of benzene ring. The Pt/TiO 2 -C shows a stronger oxidation capacity and a mineralization rate 15% higher than the traditional Pt/TiO 2 . This work proves that reduction–oxidation treatment is an effective approach to modify catalysts for air purification and provides a novel idea for the degradation of other aromatic volatile organic pollutants.

Nitrogen doping and porous tuning carbon derived from waste biomass boosting for toluene capture: Experimental study and density functional theory simulation

Porous carbon materials derived from waste biomass are promising adsorbents for volatile organic compounds. However, it is still difficult to achieve optimal control of the carbon pore structure. In this study, a nitrogen-doped porous carbon (NPC) material with ultra-high surface area (3235 m2/g) and ultra-large pore volume (2.00 cm3/g) was prepared. The adsorption capacity of toluene on NPC (691.1 mg/g, 1000 ppm, 303 K) was significantly higher than previous studies. In addition, the correlations between surface area and adsorption capacity, as well as relative content of nitrogen and adsorption capacity elucidated that the adsorption process was dominated by the filling of micropores. Density functional theory simulation and poisoning experiments proved that pyridine-N as the active center promoted the adsorption capacity through π-π interaction. This work provided new insights into the resource utilization of waste biomass and the exploration of high-efficiency purification technologies for volatile organic pollutants.

Biomimetic Light-Driven Aerogel Passive Pump for Volatile Organic Pollutant Removal.

Inspired by the solar‐light‐driven oxygen transportation in aquatic plants, a biomimetic sustainable light‐driven aerogel pump with a surface layer containing black manganese oxide (MnO2) as an optical absorber is developed. The flow intensity of the pumped air is controlled by the pore structure of nanofilbrillated cellulose, urea‐modified chitosan, or polymethylsilsesquioxane (PMSQ) aerogels. The MnO2‐induced photothermal conversion drives both the passive gas flow and the catalytic degradation of volatile organic pollutants. All investigated aerogels demonstrate superior pumping compared to benchmarked Knudsen pump systems, but the inorganic PMSQ aerogels provide the highest flexibility in terms of the input power and photothermal degradation activity. Aerogel light‐driven multifunctional gas pumps offer a broad future application potential for gas‐sensing devices, air‐quality mapping, and air quality control systems.

Effects of Nonaqueous Phase Liquids Pollution on the Permeability and Microstructure of In-Filed and Laboratory Soaked Contaminated Clay Soils

The fact that the permeability and microstructure properties of clay will be changed by NAPL (Nonaqueous Phase Liquids) pollution draws high attention in the study of the interaction between NAPL and contaminated soil. Through in-field contaminated clay soils from vinyl chloride and 1, 1, 2-trichloroethane-contaminated site in Shanghai, the variation of the content of vinyl chloride and 1, 1, 2-trichloroethane pollutants in clay with depth was obtained. The change of plasticity, permeability, and microstructure properties of the clay samples contaminated by vinyl chloride and 1, 1, 2-trichloroethane were investigated in detail. The measured test results were compared with the uncontaminated clay and indoor soaked contaminated clay samples by TCE (Trichloroethylene). The test results showed that the microstructure characteristics of clay were changed under the influence of the content of TCE, vinyl chloride, and 1, 1, 2-trichloroethane. The total porosity, accumulative pore volume, and the content of the macroporosity percentage of clay soils showed an increasing trend. The flocculation structure of contaminated clay samples was observed, but there were no overhead pores and connected cracks. Volatile organic pollutants were detected in both field and indoor contaminated clay samples. The plastic limit and liquid limit of each layer of contaminated samples decreased slightly, the plastic index did not change significantly, and the pore ratio and permeability coefficient increased gently. At the same time, the clay shrinkage was aggravated by TCE pollution, and cracks appeared on the surface of soil samples. However, no connected cracks were formed. Test results indicated that the self-developed improved permeability test device can be used to test the permeability coefficient of clay samples with shrinkage and to crack by NAPL pollution. The permeability coefficient showed an increasing trend, though the increase was not at the level of magnitude.

Self-assembly TiO2-RGO/LDHs nanocomposite: Photocatalysis of VOCs degradation in simulation air

In this work, the TiO2-RGO/LDHs photocatalyst was synthesized by a hydrothermal method using GO/LDHs as substrates. The structure and property of prepared materials were characterized via XRD, SEM, EDS, XPS, TEM, UV–vis spectroscopy, etc. Toluene, methanol, and ethyl acetate were selected as typical volatile organic pollutants model pollutants to examine the photocatalytic degradation effect of TiO2-RGO/LDHs. The photocatalytic efficiency of the TiO2-RGO/LDHs system was further investigated in contaminated air (NOx = 20 ppm). The results indicated that the prepared TiO2-RGO/LDHs nanocomposite possess better photodegradation activity than pure TiO2 and TiO2-RGO samples, and the photocatalyst has excellent application for the elimination of three kinds of VOCs. The photochemical and materials characterization revealed that the graphene has enlarged the light response range and inhibited the recombination of electron-hole pairs of TiO2. Meanwhile, LDHs can offer more hydroxide ions to accelerate the oxidation reaction, resulting in more radicals and better pollutants degradation.

Highly effective removal of volatile organic pollutants with p-n heterojunction photoreduced graphene oxide-TiO2 photocatalyst

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are among the most common gaseous pollutants found indoors. Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) is an effective technique to remove VOCs, and recently, photoreduced graphene oxide (PRGO) has emerged as a carbon-based photocatalyst. The p-n heterojunction photocatalyst composed of p-type PRGO and n-type titanium dioxide (TiO2) was synthesised via a benign and facile ultraviolet (UV)-assisted photoreduction method. The optimised PRGO-TiO2 photocatalyst (GT-12) exhibited enhanced photoactivity that removed 100% and 24.3% of VOC (50 mg/m3 of methanol) under UV and visible light, respectively. The enhancement was due to the larger built-in potential of p-n heterojunction (+ 0.05 eV)) and smaller band gap (2.90 ⎯ 3.15 eV) of the GT-12, which retarded the charge carrier recombination and improved light absorption, respectively. The main reactive species responsible for the photocatalytic activities were hVB+ species and ⦁O2− radicals. This work provides new insights into the potentials of PRGO-TiO2 as a p-n heterojunction photocatalyst.

Volatile Organic Compounds and Carbonyls Pollution in Mexico City and an Urban Industrialized Area of Central Mexico

A total of 130 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and 14 carbonyls were measured at the Jasso (JAS) and Tepeji (TEP) sites during the warm-dry season of 2006 in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, a highly industrialized area with more than 120 industries. These data were compared with those obtained in Mexico City during 2006 and 2012 at an urban center (Merced, MER) site and a southwest residential (Pedregal, PED) site. Average VOC concentrations in Tula were dominated by alkanes (40.8–42.2% of the total VOCs), followed by alkenes (10.3–11.9%), oxygenated compounds (10.0–11.5%), aromatics (7.3–12.5%), halogenated species (7.0–9.3%), and acetylene (1.6–2.4%), denotating a highly reactive atmosphere. High concentrations of propane and nButane are associated with leakage, handling, and distribution of liquified petroleum gas (LPG). The highest concentrations were found for formaldehyde at 87.2 µg m-3, followed by acetaldehyde (52.1 µg m–3) and acetone (49.7 µg m–3), accounting for 96% of the total carbonyls in Tula. VOC emission sources associated with industrial processes (such as oil refineries, power plants, plastic manufacturing, asphalt production, and solvent usage), vehicular exhaust, evaporated gasoline, LPG, food cooking, and biogenic emissions were identified using the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) solution to the chemical mass balance (CMB) model. A health risk assessment for toxic species such as benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes (BTEX), found a decreasing trend from 2006 to 2012. Lifetime cancer risks (LCR) from benzene ranged from 1.5 × 10–5 to 6.1 × 10–5 in 2006 and from 8.8 × 10–6 to 2.2 × 10–5 in 2012 for the urban MER site. This database establishes baselines for evaluating the effectiveness of emission reduction strategies.

Characteristics of Volatile Organic Compounds and Secondary Organic Aerosol Pollution in Different Functional Areas of Petrochemical Industrial City in Northwest China

Characteristics of Volatile Organic Compounds and Secondary Organic Aerosol Pollution in Different Functional Areas of Petrochemical Industrial City in Northwest China

Steam migration and temperature distribution in aquifers during remediation using steam injection

Steam injection technology is commonly used to rapidly remove volatile and semi-volatile organic pollutants in aquifers, and its remediation effect is highly related to steam migration and temperature distribution. However, systematic studies on steam migration and temperature distribution across different types of aquifers are lacking. In this study, the steam migration and temperature distribution in an aquifer were investigated through a series of two-dimensional sandbox experiments with different groundwater velocities, steam injection flow rates, and stratigraphic structures. The experimental results indicated that the temperature distribution in the aquifer was related to the formation permeability and steam injection flow rate. When the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer was lower than 10−3 cm·s−1, the heating zone in the aquifer had an H-shaped distribution, and when it was higher than 10−2 cm·s−1, the heating zone had a V-shaped distribution for a high steam injection flow rate (1 kgh−1), and an H-shaped distribution for a low injection flow rate (0.5 kgh−1). Under the same injection steam flow rate, the total area of the heating zone in the aquifers with different media was in the following order of sand particle size: coarse sand > fine sand > medium sand. Owing to the heat pipe and heat dispersion effects, the heating zone area in the fine sand aquifer was larger than that of the medium sand aquifer. Groundwater velocity did not affect the area of the heating zone. With the increase in groundwater velocity, the heating zone expanded downstream. In layered heterogeneous aquifers, the upper fine and lower coarse structures formed a steam-blocking interface, resulting in steam accumulation and temperature increase in the lower layer. These findings are significant for improving our understanding of steam migration and temperature distribution in aquifers, leading to an improved design and prediction of the steam remediation required for mitigating aquifer pollution.

Regulation of oxygen vacancies in cobalt-cerium oxide catalyst for boosting decontamination of VOCs by catalytic oxidation

Herein, we developed a series of self-assembled cobalt-cerium oxides (CoCe-x) with the regulated oxygen vacancies, to enhance the decontamination of air pollution with low-temperature catalytic oxidation, in which the typical volatile organic pollutant (VOCs), toluene, acted as the target. The oxygen vacancies in catalyst was tuned by the efficient incorporation of Co atoms into the lattice structure of ceria, and therefore improved the migration of oxygen species, the formation of surface adsorbed oxygen with high activity, as well as the redox recycles of Co3+/Co2+ and Ce4+/Ce3+. Due to the abundant oxygen vacancies, the CoCe-5 (Co loading of 5 wt%) catalyst exhibited the significantly enhanced performance in the low-temperature catalytic oxidation of toluene, on which the conversion temperature of toluene (T90) shifted to 192 °C, reduced by 23% compared with the ceria. From in situ DRIFT results, the surface adsorbed oxygen and lattice oxygen with high mobility played key roles in the excellent performance of CoCe-5 catalyst, which promoted the adsorption, activation and oxidation of toluene significantly, especially accelerating the rate-determining step of toluene oxidation, the breakage of aromatic ring.