Thesis Type: Postgraduate
Institution Of The Thesis: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Turkey
Approval Date: 2010
Student: PELİN YETİŞEMİYEN
Supervisor: GÜRKAN KARAKAŞ
Abstract:The room temperature photocatalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide in excess air was examined over silica/titania and 0.1%palladium/silica/titania catalysts under UV irradiation. The experiments were conducted in batch re-circulated reactor with the initial 1000 ppm carbon monoxide in air and 0.5 g catalyst charge and the conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide was followed by FT-IR spectro-photometer. The change in gas composition in dark and under 36 Watts of UV irradiation exposed to a catalyst area of 12.4 centimeter square indicated both adsorption of carbon monoxide and conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide over the catalyst samples. The effect of catalyst composition (silica/titania) ratio and the presence of palladium oxide were investigated. The catalyst samples were synthesized by sol-gel technique and all samples were hydrothermally treated before calcination in air. The catalyst samples were characterized by XRD and nitrogen adsorption techniques. XRD results indicated that titania is comprised of pure anatase phase and palladium oxide preferantially dispersed over titania. BET surface area of the samples were observed to increase with silica loading and the BJH results showed isotherms of Type V v with H2 hysteresis loops. The highest carbon monoxide adsorption rate constant was achieved with pure silica with the highest surface area. Photocatalytic activity measurements indicated that carbon monoxide in excess air can be successfully oxidized at room temperature over the titania photocatalyts. Higher physisorption was observed over higher silica containing samples and higher oxidation activity was observed with increasing titania/silica ratio. The optimum titania/silica ratio was determined by the titania content and surface area of catalyst. The activity tests were also indicated that the addition of palladium oxide phase synergistically increased the adsorption and oxidation activity of the catalysts.