Coupling Noble Metals and Carbon Supports in the Development of Combustion Catalysts for the Abatement of BTX Compounds in Air Streams

The catalytic combustion of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is one of the most important techniques to remove these pollutants from the air stream, but it should be carried out at the lowest possible temperature, saving energy and avoiding the simultaneous formation of nitrogen oxides (NOx). Under these experimental conditions, the chemisorption of water generated from VOCs combustion may inhibit hydrophilic catalysts. Nowadays, a wide variety of carbon materials is available to be used in catalysis. The behavior of these hydrophobic materials in the development of highly active and selective combustion catalysts is analyzed in this manuscript. The support characteristics (porosity, hydrophobicity, structure, surface chemistry, etc.) and the active phase nature (noble metals: Pt, Pd) and dispersion were analyzed by several techniques and the results correlated with the dual adsorptive and/or catalytic performance of the corresponding catalysts. The coupling of highly active phases and carbon materials (activated carbons, honeycomb coated monoliths, carbon aerogels, etc.) with tuneable physicochemical properties leads to the complete abatement of benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) from dilute air streams, being selectively oxidized to CO2 at low temperatures.