Elimination of Toluene Vapours using Natural Zeolite Treated by Copper Oxide

Akbar Barzegar Shangol, Seyed Bagher Mortazavi, Hasan Asilian, Hossein Kazemian

Abstract

 
Background: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the most frequent air contaminants which are produced due to industrial processes such as production of chemicals, petrochemical industries and their related industries. These compounds are harmful (even in low concentrations) not only for the environment but also for the human health. One method to control these contaminants is using catalytic beds. In this study we used modified natural Zeolite (Clinoptilolite) to eliminate toluene vapours.
Methods: In this study, at first natural Zeolite were modified with cooper ions and calsined thermally. Then, the effect of variables such as toluene concentration, reactor temperature, and flow rate on toluene vapours elimination were surveyed by using a tubular stainless steel reactor and modified.
Results: It was found that cooper oxide, as a catalyst, led to the considerable decrease in combustion temperature of toluene vapours. Of course, increasing the space velocity (or flow rate) and toluene concentration led to decreasing Zeolite bed efficiency.
Conclusion: Regarding the presence of many natural storage of Clinoptilolite in Iran, it seems that its modification with cooper oxide could be a good catalyst for eliminating of VOCs in air.
 

Keywords

حذف آلاینده

References

 
Brightman HS, Moss N. Sick building syndrome studies and the compilation of normative and comparative values. In: Indoor air quality handbook. Spengler J, Samet JM and McCarthy JF, Editors. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2000; 1-3.
Hunter P, Oyama ST. Control of volatile organic compound emissions: conventional and emerging technologies. New York: John Wiley & Sons; 2000.
US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Sources of indoor air pollution - organic gases (volatile organic compounds, VOCs). USEPA, 2013.
Uchiyama S, Hasegawa S. Investigation of a long-term sampling period for monitoring volatile organic compounds in ambient air. Environ Sci Technol. 2000;34(21):4656-61.
Kjaergaard SK, Molhave L, Pedersen OF. Human reactions to a mixture of indoor air volatile organic compounds. Atmospheric Environment Part A General Topics. 1991;25(8):1417-26.
Chao CY, Chan GY. Quantification of indoor VOCs in twenty mechanically ventilated buildings in Hong Kong. Atmospheric Environment 2001;35(34):5895-913.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Occupational safety and health guideline for toluene. OSHA, 1996.
Alvarez-Merino MA, Ribeiro MF, Silva JM, Carrasco-Marin F, Maldonado-Hodar FJ. Activated carbon and tungsten oxide supported on activated carbon catalysts for toluene catalytic combustion. Environ Sci Technol 2004; 38:4664-70.
Everaert K, Baeyens J. Catalytic combustion of volatile organic compounds. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 2004;109(1):113-39.
O'Reilly A. A series reaction approach to VOC incineration. Process Safety and Environmental Protection. 1998 Nov;76(4):302-12.
Song W, Li G, Grassian VH, Larsen SC. Development of improved materials for environmental applications: Nanocrystalline NaY zeolites. Environ Sci Technol. 2005;39(5):1214-20.
Tidahy HL, Siffert S, Wyrwalski F, Lamonier JF, Aboukaïs A. Catalytic activity of copper and palladium based catalysts for toluene total oxidation. Catalysis Today. 2007119(1-4):317-20.
Kazemian H. [Introduction to zeolites: magic minerals (Persian)]. 1st ed. Tehran: Behesht. 2004.
Rostami R, Jonidy Jafari A, Rezaee Kalantari R, Gholami M. [Survey of modified Clinoptilolite Zeolite and Cooper Oxide nanoparticles-containing modified Clinoptilolite efficiency for polluted air BTX removal (Persian)]. Iran J Health & Environ. 2012;5(3):1-8.
Li WB, Zhuang M, Wang JX. Catalytic combustion of toluene on Cu-Mn/MCM-41 catalysts: Influence of calcination temperature and operating conditions on the catalytic activity. Catalysis Today. 2008;137(2-4): 340-4.
Soylu GSP, Ozc Elik Z, Boz S. Total oxidation of toluene over metal oxides supported on a natural clinoptilolite-type zeolite. Chemical Engineering Journal. 2010;162(1):380-7.
Antunes AP, Ribeiro MF, Silva JM, Ribeiro FR, Magnoux P, Guisnet M. Catalytic oxidation of toluene over CuNaHY zeolites: Coke formation and removal. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental. 2001; 33(2):149-64.
Choudhary VR, Deshmukh GM, Pataskar SG. Low temperature complete combustion of dilute toluene and methyl ethyl ketone over transition metal-doped ZrO2 (cubic) catalysts. Catalysis Communications. 2004;5(3):115-9

Full Text: HTML PDF XML

Refbacks

• There are currently no refbacks.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.