Dedong He

Recycling Spent Cr Adsorbents as Catalyst for Eliminating Methylmercaptan

Waste adsorbents generated from treating Cr(VI)-containing wastewater are hazardous materials and generally landfilled or treated by acid or base desorption, with concomitant high cost and toxic effects. The present work shows that these Cr adsorbents can be reused as highly efficient catalysts for treating sulfur-containing VOCs (CH3SH), not only avoiding the economic and environmental impact from the conventional approaches, but also achieving the efficient treatment of sulfur-containing waste gas. Importantly, these reused Cr adsorbents exhibit enhanced activity and stability compared with the catalysts reported elsewhere, indicating a new avenue of green chemistry. The highly toxic adsorbed Cr(VI) species are reduced to a Cr2O3 crystalline phase by calcination and finally immobilized as a Cr2S3 solid phase while converting and eliminating CH3SH. Still, the presence of Cr(VI) species on the reused Cr adsorbent provides enough reactive sites for reaction, but high concentration of Cr(VI) species causes serious accumulation of coke deposit on the catalyst, leading to fast deactivation of the catalyst.

Investigation of the Isolated Cr(VI) Species in Cr/MCM-41 Catalysts and its Effect on Catalytic Activity for Dehydrogenation of Propane

Cr‐modified MCM‐41 with different loadings were prepared and tested in the propane dehydrogenation (PDH) reaction. As for Cr/MCM‐41 system, the general knowledge was that high Cr loadings resulted in the reduction of silica surface hydroxyl groups, thus leading to the formation of inactive Cr(III) species, as clusters and/or crystalline Cr2O3. However, in the present work, isolated Cr(VI) states were identified in the Cr/MCM‐41 catalysts, instead of Cr(III) species, using UV‐vis and H2‐TPR. These isolated Cr(VI) species are difficult to reduce, causing the decreased activity for propane conversion and low selectivity towards C3H6 in the PDH process. In contrast, a good dispersion of the Cr species was obtained using a chromium column adsorption process, and the absence of the isolated state of Cr(VI) species on this sample contributed to high activity toward PDH process. The investigation of the isolated Cr(VI) species is very important for the Cr‐based PDH catalyst system.