Catalytic ozonation of ethyl acetate over mesoporous manganese oxides synthesized by a sonochemical method

Ethyl acetate is one of typical volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitting from solvent use, and removing ethyl acetate from exhaust air is vital to VOCs abatement. The mesoporous manganese oxide (MnO x ) samples were sonochemically synthesized by the reduction of KMnO 4 using Mn(NO 3 ) 2 . The characterization shows that γ‐MnO 2 , β‐MnO 2 , and bixbyite‐like Mn 2 O 3 were obtained by calcining the MnO x samples from 200°C to 500°C. The results show that γ‐MnO 2 and β‐MnO 2 possess more Mn 4+ than bixbyite‐like Mn 2 O 3 . β‐MnO 2 has the highest contents of surface oxygen species (O ads ) and average oxidation state (AOS) among the MnO x catalysts. Based on a 7‐day test, β‐MnO 2 performed the highest activity for the catalytic ozonation of ethyl acetate compared with the other MnO x catalysts. The results show that ethyl acetate is easy to be destroyed but difficult to be completely mineralized by catalytic ozonation. Lower gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) leads to higher CO 2 selectivity and more intermediate products form in the catalytic ozonation of ethyl acetate under higher GHSV. A further study indicates that β‐MnO 2 has a long‐term stability for catalytic ozonation of ethyl acetate because the accumulation and the decomposition of intermediate products are in a dynamic equilibrium during the catalytic ozonation.