Sequential adsorption plasma catalytic abatement of toluene using metal oxide loaded MS-13X in packed bed DBD reactor

The sequential/cyclic adsorption plasma catalysis (APC) systems have been widely investigated to remove low concentrations (< 1000 ppm) of VOCs from a huge volume of exhaust gas to reduce the energy cost 1,2 . In APC, the VOC is first adsorbed on the adsorbent and/or catalyst (plasma off) after which it is converted to CO 2 by NTP (plasma on). In this study, an APC system consisting of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor packed with MO x /MS-13X (M = Cu, Mn, or Cu-Mn) and glass beads was investigated for the abatement of toluene in dry air. The total amount of adsorbed toluene, the catalytic performance of MO x /MS-13X, the energy cost and the energy yield of the APC process were investigated for the different metal loaded MS-13X. Results revealed that the all metal loadings on MS-13X enhanced the mineralization efficiency and reduced the energy cost to remedy 1 m 3 of air when compared to unloaded MS-13X. The lowest energy cost (0.25 kWh.m -3 ) and highest energy yield (4.37 g/kWh) were obtained using CuMnO x /MS-13X. Then, the influence of the amount of toluene initially adsorbed on CuMnO x /MS-13X on the mineralization efficiency of the APC process was also studied. In addition, the stability and regenerability of the CuMnO x /MS-13X catalyst was examined during 4 cycles of APC by comparing (i) the amount of adsorbed toluene, (ii) the breakthrough time, (iii) the carbon balance and (iv) the bulk and surface properties of fresh and NTP regenerated CuMnO x /MS-13X. It was observed that the crystallinity, textural properties, and elemental composition of the CuMnO x /MS-13X zeolite as well as the oxidation state of the metals loaded on MS-13X did not change upon NTP exposure.