Effect of supports on plasma catalytic decomposition of toluene using in situ plasma DRIFTS.

Plasma catalysis technology has been demonstrated to be effective for the decomposition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It is highly desired to explore the effect of supports on VOCs oxidation processes during plasma catalysis. In this work, four supports of SiO, ZSM-5-300, ZSM-5-38 and γ-AlO loading with transition metal oxides were used to decompose toluene at room temperature. It was found that toluene decomposition with 1 wt%Mn/γ-AlO was highest, which was strongly proportional to the ozone decomposition ability of the catalyst. The plasma catalytic decomposition of toluene over 1 wt% MnO on different supports were characterized using in situ plasma diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectrometer. The results showed that 1 wt%Mn/γ-AlO could further catalyze toluene to carbonate and bicarbonate via the breakage of C-C bonds from benzoic acid, while that was difficult for 1 wt% Mn/SiO, 1 wt%Mn/ZSM-5-300 and 1 wt%Mn/ZSM-5-38. The reaction mechanism of toluene decomposition on different catalysts were proposed.