Total oxidation of propane and naphthalene with zirconia- supported copper catalysts

MARÍA SILVIA LEGUIZAMÓN APARICIO; ILEANA DANIELA LICK

Madrid

Simposio; 3er International Symposium on catalysis for clean energy and sustainable chemistry; 2016

The control of air-polluting processes has tightened in the last decades. High concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released to the atmosphere by industries and motor vehicles, causing serious environmental damage. Catalytic oxidation is one of the most widely used methods to remove VOCs, converting them into carbon dioxide and water. Among VOCs, short chain saturated hydrocarbons are the most difficult to destroy. It is well known that noble metals are very active in the catalytic combustion of hydrocarbons. Nevertheless, a more economical alternative is the use of transition metal oxides. Metallic oxides have been investigated as bulk and supported catalysts, resulting very active towards hydrocarbon combustion. This behavior is attributed to their capacity of being reduced at low temperature. In this context, the study of zirconia-supported copper catalyst seems interesting. In this work, a series of Cu-ZrO2 catalysts with variable copper concentration are studied in the propane and naphthalene oxidation.