Acetonitrile combustion over (Cu, Co, Fe)-Beta catalysts

Acetonitrile is a volatile organic compound (VOC) commonly found in off-gas from industrial processes that have low activity, high stability, and toxicity which cause continuous damage to human and animal health and the atmospheric environment. In this paper was evaluate the performance of (Cu, Co or Fe)-Beta catalysts in the acetonitrile combustion varying the reaction temperature. (Cu, Co or Fe)-Beta catalysts were prepared by ion exchange method and characterized by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), temperature-programmed reduction by hydrogen (H2-TPR) and UV-VIS spectroscopy. The results showed the presence of Cu2+ ions and CuO nanoparticles in Cu-Beta, as well as Fe2O3 and Fe3+ in Fe-Beta. Co2+ species are in position of load compensation in the Beta zeolite and has no shown reduction peak. On the other hand, the reduction occurred in more than one stage in the (Cu and Fe)-Beta catalysts. Acetonitrile conversion increased with increasing reaction temperature and the order of activity was Cu-Beta > Fe-Beta > Co-Beta. Fe-Beta led to the formation of HCN, NH3, N2 and N2O+NO, while Co-Beta led to the formation of N2 and N2O+NO. Cu-Beta catalyst was the most active and highly selective to N2. The excellent performance of Cu-Beta was attributed to the co-existence of both highly dispersed CuO nanoparticles and Cu2+ species.