Identification of by-products issued from the catalytic oxidation of toluene by chemical and biological methods

Investigation of photocatalytic-proxone process performance in the degradation of toluene and ethyl benzene from polluted air

In this study, toluene and ethylbenzene were degraded in the photocatalytic-proxone process using BiOI@NH₂-MIL125(Ti)/Zeolite nanocomposite. The simultaneous presence of ozone and hydrogen peroxide is known as the proxone process. Nanocomposite Synthesis was carried out using the solvothermal method. Inlet airflow, ozone concentrations, H₂O₂ concentrations, relative humidity, and initial pollutants concentrations were studied. The nanocomposite was successfully synthesized based on FT-IR, BET, XRD, FESEM, EDS element mapping, UV-Vis spectra and TEM analysis. A flow rate of 0.1 L min^-1, 0.3 mg min^-1 of ozone, 150 ppm of hydrogen peroxide, 45% relative humidity, and 50 ppmv of pollutants were found to be optimal operating conditions. Both pollutants were degraded in excess of 95% under these conditions. For toluene and ethylbenzene, the synergistic of mechanisms effect coefficients were 1.56 and 1.76, respectively. It remained above 95% efficiency 7 times in the hybrid process and had good stability. Photocatalytic-proxone processes were evaluated for stability over 180 min. The remaining ozone levels in the process was insignificant (0.01 mg min^-1). The CO₂ and CO production in the photocatalytic-proxone process were 58.4, 5.7 ppm for toluene and 53.7, and 5.5 ppm for ethylbenzene respectively. Oxygen gas promoted and nitrogen gas had an inhibitory effect on the effective removal of pollutants. During the pollutants oxidation, various organic intermediates were identified.

Detailed Speciation of Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds in Exhaust Emissions from Diesel and Gasoline Euro 5 Vehicles Using Online and Offline Measurements

The characterization of vehicle exhaust emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is essential to estimate their impact on the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and, more generally, air quality. This paper revises and updates non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) tailpipe emissions of three Euro 5 vehicles during Artemis cold urban (CU) and motorway (MW) cycles. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis is carried out for the first time on proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (PTR-ToF-MS) datasets of vehicular emission. Statistical analysis helped to associate the emitted VOCs to specific driving conditions, such as the start of the vehicles, the activation of the catalysts, or to specific engine combustion regimes. Merged PTR-ToF-MS and automated thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometer (ATD-GC-MS) datasets provided an exhaustive description of the NMVOC emission factors (EFs) of the vehicles, thus helping to identify and quantify up to 147 individual compounds. In general, emissions during the CU cycle exceed those during the MW cycle. The gasoline direct injection (GDI) vehicle exhibits the highest EF during both CU and MW cycles (252 and 15 mg/km), followed by the port-fuel injection (PFI) vehicle (24 and 0.4 mg/km), and finally the diesel vehicle (15 and 3 mg/km). For all vehicles, emissions are dominated by unburnt fuel and incomplete combustion products. Diesel emissions are mostly represented by oxygenated compounds (65%) and aliphatic hydrocarbons (23%) up to C₂₂, while GDI and PFI exhaust emissions are composed of monoaromatics (68%) and alkanes (15%). Intermediate volatility organic compounds (IVOCs) range from 2.7 to 13% of the emissions, comprising essentially linear alkanes for the diesel vehicle, while naphthalene accounts up to 42% of the IVOC fraction for the gasoline vehicles. This work demonstrates that PMF analysis of PTR-ToF-MS datasets and GC-MS analysis of vehicular emissions provide a revised and deep characterization of vehicular emissions to enrich current emission inventories.

Thiol-Amine Functionalized Decorated Carbon Nanotubes for Biomarker Gases Detection

Thousands of gas molecules are expelled in exhaled breath, and some of them can reveal diseases and metabolomic disorders. For that reason, the development of fast, inexpensive, and reliable sensing devices has been attracting growing interest. Here, we present the development of different chemoresistors based on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) decorated with platinum (MWCNT/Pt) and palladium (MWCNT/Pt) nanoparticles and also functionalized with a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of 11-amino-1-undecanethiol (Thiol-amine). The nanocomposites developed are a proof-of-concept to detect some biomarker molecules. Specifically, the capability to identify and measure different concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), either aromatic (toluene and benzene) and non-aromatic (ethanol and methanol) was assessed. As a result, this paper reports the significant differences in sensing performance achieved according to the metal nanoparticle used, and the high sensitivity obtained when SAMs are grown on the sensitive film, acting as a receptor for biomarker vapours.

CuAlCe Oxides Issued from Layered Double Hydroxide Precursors for Ethanol and Toluene Total Oxidation

CuAlCe oxides were obtained from hydrotalcite-type precursors by coprecipitation using a M2+/M3+ ratio of 3. The collapse of the layered double hydroxide structure following the thermal treatment leads to the formation of mixed oxides (CuO and CeO2). The catalytic performance of the copper-based catalysts was evaluated in the total oxidation of two Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): ethanol and toluene. XRD, SEM Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDX), H2-temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and XPS were used to characterize the physicochemical properties of the catalysts. A beneficial effect of combining cerium with CuAl-O oxides in terms of redox properties and the abatement of the mentioned VOCs was demonstrated. The sample with the highest content of Ce showed the best catalytic properties, which were mainly related to the improvement of the reducibility of the copper species and their good dispersion on the surface. The presence of a synergetic effect between the copper and cerium elements was also highlighted.

In vitro toxicological evaluation of emissions from catalytic oxidation removal of industrial VOCs by air/liquid interface (ALI) exposure system in repeated mode

Toxicity of toluene and by-products formed during its catalytic oxidative degradation was studied in human bronchial BEAS-2B cells repeatedly exposed. BEAS-2B cells were exposed using an Air-Liquid Interface (ALI) System (Vitrocell®) for 1 h per day during 1, 3 or 5 days to gaseous flows: toluene vapors (100 and 1000 ppm) and outflow after catalytic oxidation of toluene (10 and 100%). After exposure to gaseous flow, cytotoxicity, inflammatory response and Xenobiotic Metabolism Enzymes (XME) gene expression were investigated. No significant cytotoxicity was found after 5 days for every condition of exposure. After cells exposure to catalytic oxidation flow, IL-6 level increased no significantly in a time- and dose-dependent way, while an inverted U-shaped profile of IL-8 secretion was observed. XME genes induction, notably CYP2E1 and CYP2F1 results were in line with the presence of unconverted toluene and benzene formed as a by-product, detected by analytical methods. Exposure to pure toluene also demonstrated the activation of these XMEs involved in its metabolism. Repeated exposure permits to show CYP1A1, CYP1B1 and CY2S1 expression, probably related to the formation of other by-products, as PAHs, not detected by standard analytical methods used for the development of catalysts.

Catalytic oxidation at pilot-scale: Efficient degradation of volatile organic compounds in gas phase

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are responsible for environmental problems and may affect human health. Several treatment technologies minimize VOCs emissions; among those, catalytic oxidation appears as a promising alternative. In this study, a pilot-scale catalytic reactor was developed and the influence of process parameters on toluene degradation were investigated. Inlet gases were heated by electrical resistances and the catalyst employed was a honeycomb shape commercial automotive catalyst (Umicore, model AFT). Toluene degradation higher than 99% was achieved for several conditions and temperature showed to be the most important process variable for it. For all concentrations, it was observed that when increasing temperature led to a decrease on the space time. At 800 ppmv, varying from 543 K to 633 K, the space time decreased from 0.121 s to 0.08 s, respectively. At 1600 ppmv for the same temperature range, space time was reduced from 0.098 s to 0.040 s, respectively. At 2400 ppmv, varying from 543 K to 633 K, space time decreased from 0.081 s to 0.048 s. The catalytic reactor developed proved to be efficient for VOCs treatment, showing a high potential of application at industrial emission sources.

Process and mechanism of toluene oxidation using Cu1-yMn2CeyOx/sepiolite prepared by the co-precipitation method

To achieve efficient degradation of toluene, a series of Cu_1-yMn₂Ce_yO_x/sepiolite catalysts (y = 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3) with different Cu_1-yMn₂Ce_yO_x loadings (10%, 20%, and 30%) were prepared via the co-precipitation method. The structure-activity and surficial elemental species of Cu_1-yMn₂Ce_yO_x/sepiolite were characterized by XRD, TEM, SEM, BET, ICP-MS and XPS. The catalytic activity of the catalysts was tested in the oxidation reaction of toluene, results showed that 20%Cu_0.8Mn₂Ce_0.2O_x/sepiolite remains able to remove toluene completely with high efficiency at a temperature of 289 °C. Two kinetic models have been selected and tested to describe the oxidation of toluene, the Mars-van krevele (MVK) model provided a good fit (R² ≥ 0.99). And the optimal relation of the surface oxidation activation energy (26.074 kJ mol^-1) and surface reduction activation energy (23.591 kJ mol^-1) were calculated.

Usefulness of toxicological validation of VOCs catalytic degradation by air-liquid interface exposure system

Toluene is one of the most used Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the industry despite its major health impacts. Catalytic oxidation represents an efficient remediation technique in order to reduce its emission directly at the source, but it can release by-products. To complete the classical performance assessment using dedicated analytical chemistry methods, we propose to perform an untargeted toxicological validation on two efficient catalysts. Using biological system allows integrating synergy and antagonism in toxic effects of emitted VOCs and by-products, often described in case of multi-exposure condition. Catalysts Pd/α-Al₂O₃ and Pd/γ-Al₂O₃ developed for the oxidation of toluene were both coupled to a Vitrocell^® Air-Liquid Interface (ALI) system, for exposure of human A549 lung cells during 1h to toluene or to catalysts exhaust before quantification of xenobiotics metabolizing enzymes. This study validated initially the Vitrocell^® as an innovative, direct and dynamic model of ALI exposure in the assessment of the performances of new catalysts, showing the presence of chemically undetected by-products. The comparison of the two catalysts showed then that fewer organic compounds metabolizing genes were induced by Pd/γ-Al₂O₃ in comparison to Pd/α-Al₂O₃, suggesting that Pd/γ-Al₂O₃ is more efficient for toluene total oxidation from a toxicological point of view.

Catalytic oxidation of ethyl acetate and toluene over Cu–Ce–Zr supported ZSM-5/TiO2 catalysts

Schematic of VOCs oxidation mechanism over the CCZ/Z (A) and CCZ/T (B) catalysts.