0000000000302935
AUTHOR
Leonardo Marchese
The role of H2O in the photocatalytic oxidation of toluene in vapour phase on anatase TiO2 catalyst
Abstract Photocatalytic oxidation of toluene has been carried out in a gas–solid regime by using polycrystalline anatase TiO2 in a fixed-bed continuous reactor. Air containing toluene and water vapours in various molar ratios was fed to the photoreactor irradiated by a medium pressure Hg lamp. Toluene was mainly photo-oxidised to benzaldehyde, and small amount of benzene, benzyl alcohol and traces of benzoic acid and phenol were also detected. In the presence of water, no decrease of photoreactivity was observed at steady-state conditions. By removing water vapour from the feed, the conversion of toluene to benzaldehyde was almost completely inhibited, and an irreversible deactivation of th…
Photocatalytic oxidation of gaseous toluene on polycrystalline TiO2: FT-IR investigation of surface reactivity of different types of catalysts
Commercial TiO 2 Merck and TiO 2 Degussa P25 powders were employed as the catalysts for the photo-oxidation of toluene. By using TiO 2 Merck benzaldehyde was found in gas phase as the main product of the toluene partial oxidation. After an initial transient period, this catalyst exhibited a high stability in the presence of water vapour in the gaseous mixture, whereas the photoproduction of benzaldehyde sharply decreases after removal of H 2 O from the feed IR spectra of the used catalyst revealed that in the absence of water vapour benzaldehyde is molecularly held on the catalyst surface. This feature was confirmed by co-adsorbing benzaldehyde and water on the fresh catalyst. By contrast, …
VOC's abatement: Photocatalytic oxidation of toluene in vapour phase on anatase TiO2 catalyst
Publisher Summary The photocatalytic oxidation of toluene in the presence of water was performed in the gas–solid regime at room temperature by using TiO2. It has been found that the presence of water was beneficial to achieve the almost complete photo-oxidation of toluene to CO2 and H2O, in fact, only very small amounts of benzaldehyde vapor that is the main product of toluene partial oxidation, were detected. Volatile organic compounds, VOC's, are an important class of air pollutants usually found in the atmosphere of all urban and industrial areas. Toluene is one of these compounds, and because of its noxious nature several strategies have been identified to reduce its presence in indoor…
Photocatalytic oxidation of gaseous toluene on anatase TiO2 catalyst: Mechanistic aspects and FT-IR investigation
Abstract Photo-oxidation of toluene has been carried out in gas–solid regime by using polycrystalline anatase TiO2 as the catalyst. The reacting gaseous mixture was toluene, air and water in various molar ratios. A pyrex fixed-bed continuous photoreactor irradiated by a medium pressure Hg lamp was used for performing the photoreactivity experiments. The main oxidation product was benzaldehyde but benzene, benzyl alcohol and traces of benzoic acid, phenol and unidentified compounds were also detected. The molar conversion to benzaldehyde with respect to the initial amount of toluene was ca. 20% in the best experimental conditions. Benzene was produced only as a transient product during the f…
Photocatalytic degradation of nitrophenols in aqueous titanium dioxide dispersion
Abstract The results are reported of an investigation into the photodegradation of nitrophenol isomers carried out in aqueous titania (anatase) dispersions under various experimental conditions. We investigated the influence of various parameters on the photodegradation rate, such as the concentrations of the catalyst, dissolved oxygen and organic compound, and the presence of various anions in the dispersion. A plausible explanation is proposed for the influence of these parameters, both mechanistic and kinetic factors being accounted for. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry were used as analytical methods in order to determine intermediate products. Spectroscopic methods (UV-vis and …
Photoassisted Mechanisms in Heterogeneous Catalysis: The Role of Surface OH in the Decomposition of Ethanoic Acid on Magnesium Oxide
The photodecomposition of adsorbed ethanoic acid was studied on a number of pure and mixed insulator and semiconductor systems having a wide range of acid-base features. MgO appeared to be much more active than any other oxide when oxygen was not present in the reactant mixture. On the basis of infrared, U.V.-Vis. reflectance and photoluminescence data it is suggested that in this case the surface hydroxy-groups which are known to absorb at wavelengths longer than 300 nm are involved in the photodecomposition process.