Environmental Catalysis/Adsorption for Organic Waste Resource Disposal

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Catalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 5139

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Hebei Key Laboratory of Inorganic Nano-Materials, College of Chemistry and Material Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
Interests: environmental catalysis; adsorption; resource utilization; VOCs; supported sulfuric acid / sulfonic acid; volatile benzene series; sulfonation reaction; biochar; siloxane; biogas
College of Zhongran, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
Interests: carbon assisted water electrolysis; coal/biomass gasification; chemical looping gasification combustion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental pollution and the disposal of organic waste has been regarded as a major challenge due to the huge amount, variety and sources of pollution. Considering this challenge and the resource properties of organic waste, the provision of resource disposal solutions will be pivotal for future sustainable development. Novel or improved catalysts/adsorbents with unique physiochemical properties or functional groups could offer numerous opportunities to solve the issues related to organic waste resource disposal (OWRD). For instance, catalytic isopropanol oxidative dehydrogenation to acetone was successfully achieved using a bimetallic Au-CuO catalyst with a Janus structure; also, aromatic volatile organic compounds can be effectively removed and recycled with supported sulfuric acid via the reaction-type adsorption mechanism, among others. In recent years, remarkable advancements have been made on the synthesis, mechanistic understanding and innovative applications of new catalysts/adsorbents for OWRD. The structural features of catalysts/adsorbents can be tuned further via specific methods to enable enhancements in environmental performance in tackling the challenge. The new achievements in catalysis science and technology have significantly promoted our understanding of the controllable synthesis, process mechanism and structure–performance relationship of various catalysts/adsorbents.

This Special Issue invites researchers to contribute original research articles and reviews focusing on environmental catalysis/adsorption for organic waste resource disposal. The content scope covers but is not limited to the following aspects:

  • Design and synthesis of catalysts/adsorbents with enhanced performance;
  • Development of new supports and immobilization strategies;
  • Catalytic processes for OWRD;
  • Reactive adsorption for OWRD;
  • Mechanistic and theoretical understanding of the catalysis/adsorption process as applied in OWRD;
  • Catalysts for VOCs resource disposal;
  • Catalysis and resource utilization of organic pollutants.

Prof. Dr. Zichuan Ma
Dr. Xing Zhou
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • environmental catalysis
  • environmental adsorption
  • resource disposal
  • organic waste
  • VOCs
  • synthesis of catalysts
  • resource utilization

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 4232 KiB  
Article
Insights into SnO2 Nanoparticles Supported on Fibrous Mesoporous Silica for CO Catalytic Oxidation
by Guobo Li, Yingying Zhang, Jie Yan, Yiwei Luo, Conghui Wang, Weiwei Feng, Shule Zhang, Wenming Liu, Zehui Zhang and Honggen Peng
Catalysts 2023, 13(8), 1156; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13081156 - 26 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 995
Abstract
A large surface area dendritic mesoporous silica material (KCC-1) was successfully synthesized and used as a support to confine SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs). Owing to the large specific surface area and abundant mesoporous structure of dendritic KCC-1, the SnO2 NPs were highly [...] Read more.
A large surface area dendritic mesoporous silica material (KCC-1) was successfully synthesized and used as a support to confine SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs). Owing to the large specific surface area and abundant mesoporous structure of dendritic KCC-1, the SnO2 NPs were highly dispersed, resulting in significantly improved CO catalytic oxidation activity. The obtained Snx/KCC-1 catalysts (x represents the mass fraction of SnO2 loading) exhibited excellent CO catalytic activity, with the Sn7@KCC-1 catalyst achieving 90% CO conversion at about 175 °C. The SnO2 NPs on the KCC-1 surface in a highly dispersed amorphous form, as well as the excellent interaction between SnO2 NPs and KCC-1, positively contributed to the catalytic removal process of CO on the catalyst surface. The CO catalytic removal pathway was established through a combination of in situ diffuse reflectance infrared transform spectroscopy and density-functional theory calculations, revealing the sequential steps: ① CO → CO32−ads, ② CO32−ads → CO2free+SnOx−1, ③ SnOx−1+O2 → SnOx+1. This study provides valuable insights into the design of high-efficiency non-precious metal catalysts for CO catalytic oxidation catalysts with high efficiency. Full article
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15 pages, 3790 KiB  
Article
Phosphate Removal by Ca-Modified Magnetic Sludge Biochar Prepared by a One-Step Hydrothermal Method
by Xu Liu, Yushan Li, Hao Zhou, Jing Guo, Yonghou Xiao, Cong Liu, Boxing An and Zhengqi Liang
Catalysts 2023, 13(6), 927; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13060927 - 24 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1351
Abstract
The problem of phosphorus pollution and its resource utilization has been a source of general concern. The preparation of green, renewable, and non-secondary pollution adsorbents has become a research direction. In this paper, a one-step hydrothermal preparation method of Ca-modified magnetic sludge biochar [...] Read more.
The problem of phosphorus pollution and its resource utilization has been a source of general concern. The preparation of green, renewable, and non-secondary pollution adsorbents has become a research direction. In this paper, a one-step hydrothermal preparation method of Ca-modified magnetic sludge biochar (Ca-MSBC) is used for enhancing phosphate removal. The results show that the adsorption rate of phosphate by Ca-MSBC is mainly controlled by chemisorption but is also related to physical adsorption and an internal diffusion mechanism. The maximum phosphorus adsorption capacity of Ca-MSBC was 89.25 mg g−1 at 343 K (initial phosphate concentration 500 mg L−1). After nine cycles of adsorption experiments, the adsorption capacity of 70.16 mg g−1 was still high. In addition, coexisting ions Cl, NO3, SO42−, and CO32− have no significant effect on the adsorption properties of phosphate. XRD, FT-IR, VSM, XPS, and N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms showed that the mechanism of phosphate removal from water by Ca-MSBC was mainly the chemical precipitation reaction of phosphate and calcium. The results of this study indicate that Ca-MSBC has potential application and environmental value as a solid waste recycling material for environmental remediation. Full article
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12 pages, 2991 KiB  
Article
Removal of Hexamethyldisiloxane by NaOH–Activated Porous Carbons Produced from Coconut Shells
by Siqi Lv, Xiaolong Ma, Qingling Fu, Yanhui Zheng and Zichuan Ma
Catalysts 2023, 13(6), 918; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13060918 - 23 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1081
Abstract
The utilisation of activated porous carbon (APC) for the removal of volatile methyl siloxane (VMS) has attracted significant research attention. However, the development of materials with high adsorption capacity remains a challenge. In this study, we successfully developed a high-specific-surface-area (2551 m2 [...] Read more.
The utilisation of activated porous carbon (APC) for the removal of volatile methyl siloxane (VMS) has attracted significant research attention. However, the development of materials with high adsorption capacity remains a challenge. In this study, we successfully developed a high-specific-surface-area (2551 m2 g−1) APC material with a large porous texture (1.30 cm3 g−1) using coconut shell waste and NaOH as the activating agent. The performance of the APC material in the removal of hexamethyldisiloxane (L2) was evaluated using a fixed-bed dynamic adsorption setup. Notably, at 0 °C, the APC demonstrated a remarkable L2 removal ability, achieving a breakthrough adsorption capacity of 898.6 mg g−1. By increasing the inlet concentration of L2 and decreasing the temperature appropriately, the L2 adsorption capacity could be further improved. One advantage of APCs is their simple recycling process, which allows for sustained adsorption performance even after five consecutive cycles of adsorption and desorption. Therefore, the prepared APC material holds great promise as an efficient adsorbent for the removal of VMS. Full article
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9 pages, 1299 KiB  
Article
Reactive Adsorption of Gaseous Anisole by MCM–41-Supported Sulfuric Acid
by Dandan Zhao, Jinjin Qian, Yaxu Wang, Zichuan Ma and Xiaolong Ma
Catalysts 2022, 12(9), 942; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12090942 - 25 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1206
Abstract
To achieve the efficient resource treatment of aromatic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of high toxicity, this work chose anisole as a representative pollutant and investigated its removal by an MCM–41-supported sulfuric acid (SSA/MCM–41) adsorbent. The results indicate that the SSA/MCM–41 adsorbent exhibited a [...] Read more.
To achieve the efficient resource treatment of aromatic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of high toxicity, this work chose anisole as a representative pollutant and investigated its removal by an MCM–41-supported sulfuric acid (SSA/MCM–41) adsorbent. The results indicate that the SSA/MCM–41 adsorbent exhibited a reactive temperature range of 110–140 °C, in which the anisole removal ratio (Xa) was greater than 95%. The collected breakthrough adsorption data fit the dose–response model. In the comprehensive analysis of the process conditions, reducing the flow rate enhanced the theoretical breakthrough time and adsorption capacity (tB,th and QB,th), while reducing the inlet concentration or raising the bed height resulted in a first increasing and then slightly decreasing trend in the QB,th. As a result, the highest tB,th and QB,th were 73.82 min and 247.56 mg g−1, respectively. The FTIR and 1H/13C NMR results demonstrate that the adsorbed products included both 4-methoxybenzenesulfonic acid and 1-methoxy-4-(4-methoxyphenyl)sulfonylbenzene. Accordingly, the mechanism of reactive adsorption was proposed. Meanwhile, the spent SSA/MCM–41 could be desorbed and regenerated for cyclic reuse. It is believed that the results obtained will assist in promoting the application of the novel gas–solid adsorption approach in VOC treatment. Full article
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