Impact of Cu content on the activity of TiO2-based catalysts for toluene oxidation

Toluene is one of the most toxic contaminants in industrial waste gases, it can enter the body through the respiratory system and skin. Long-term exposure to it can lead to skin inflammation and neurasthenia, and even cause lesions in organs. Over the years, catalytic oxidation technology has been extensively employed to the remove of toluene, and oxides, especially copper oxide, is considered to be an effective catalyst technology and has been extensively studied. In this work, we introduced CuO as an active species to investigate the impact of Cu content in TiO ₂@CuO (TC-x, x=1, 2, 3, and 5) catalyst on the activity, reusability, and stability of toluene oxidation. The result demonstrated that the addition of Cu species, facilitating the generation of active oxygen obviously reduced the complete oxidation temperature of toluene. Among them, TC-3 catalyst exhibited the highest activity (T ₅₀ = 234 ℃, T ₉₀ = 289 ℃, and T ₁₀₀ = 310 ℃, with C _toluene=1000 ppm, WHSV=20,000 mL/ (g h)), great reusability, and stability for toluene degradation. According to the in-situ DRIFTS, the ultimate degradation products of toluene were CO ₂ and H ₂O, which were clean and free of secondary pollution.