Catalytic wet air oxidation of phenols over porous plate Cu-based catalysts

Abstract Catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of phenol has attracted much attention because of its high versatility and remarkable economy-scale advantages. In this submission, a series of M3-Al-500 catalysts (with M = Cu, Mn, Fe, Ni, Zn and Co) were prepared via controlled calcination of layered double hydroxides, and tested in the CWAO of high concentrated phenol (2.1 g/L) with air under mild condition (120 °C and 1.0 MPa). It was found that Cu3-Al-500 was the most active among these tested catalysts as phenol converted completely within 2 h. Characterizations indicated that the performance of Cu-based catalyst could be attributed to the redox transitions of Cu2+/Cu+ and/or the formation of H2O2 in reaction mixture. At the same time, the surface acidity of Cu3-Al-500 can also accelerate the degradation of phenol. The possible degradation mechanism of phenol over Cu-based catalyst was proposed.