Abstract:The treatment of volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions is a necessity of today. The catalytic treatment has already proven to be environmentally and economically sound technology for the total oxidation of the VOCs. However, in certain cases, it may also become economical to utilize these emissions in some profitable way. Currently, the most common way to utilize the VOC emissions is their use in energy production. However, interesting possibilities are arising from the usage of VOCs in hydrogen and syngas production. Production of chemicals from VOC emissions is still mainly at the research stage. However, few commercial examples exist. This review will summarize the commercially existing VOC utilization possibilities, present the utilization applications that are in the research stage and introduce some novel ideas related to the catalytic utilization possibilities of the VOC emissions. In general, there exist a vast number of possibilities for VOC
OPEN ACCESSCatalysts 2015, 5 1093 utilization via different catalytic processes, which creates also a good research potential for the future.
Designing and developing non-noble metal-based heterogeneous catalysts have a substantial importance in biomass conversion. Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley (MPV) reaction is a significant pathway for eco-friendly catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) of biomass derived furfural into furfuryl alcohol. In this work, a series of copper-supported hydroxyapatite (HAp) catalysts with different copper loadings (2–20 wt.%) were prepared by a facile impregnation method and tested in the reduction of furfural to furfuryl alcohol using 2-propanol as a hydrogen donor. The structural and chemical properties of the synthesised catalysts were analysed by using various techniques (XRD, N2 sorption, SEM, TEM, UV-DRS, ICP, FTIR, TPR, TPD-CO2 and N2O titration). The effect of copper loading was found to be significant on the total performance of the catalysts. The results demonstrate that 5CuHAp catalyst possess highly dispersed copper particles and high basicity compared to all other catalysts. Overall, 5CuHAp exhibited highest conversion (96%) and selectivity (100%) at 140 °C at 4 h time on stream. The optimised reaction conditions were also determined to gain the high activity.
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