NOX Removal with Pd/TiO2 Based Catalytic Nanofiber

摘要

The release of noxious gases like NO and CO are dreadful to our environment as these gases causes enormous hazards both on animal and plant life. Recently the eradication of these gases from every source has been strictly demanded by regulatory agencies such as US EPA. To minimize the pollution, the sources of these gases are to be treated in a useful and economic way. Metal oxide nanofibers as heterogeneous catalyst, is a smart use of material that can lower the cost of controlling this air pollution. Titania nanofibers fabricated through electrospinning have high surface area and can be used as catalytic filter media to reduce these gases. Palladium nanoparticles, as additional catalysts for reducing the gases, were incorporated into the titania fibers during the electrospinning process. These fibers are characterized by SEM, TEM, EDS, XRD and BET measurements. The surface morphology, fiber dimension, fiber frequency distribution, presence of nanoparticle on fiber surface, phase of crystallization and specific surface area are evaluated. Filter media were prepared having different weight percentages of catalyst to observe the performance. NO and CO gases were reacted at different temperatures to determine temperature effects. The media were challenged to NaCl nanoparticle aerosol simultaneously with reaction and the reactivity showed a moderate change in performance. In future work the reactivity of the media will be evaluated for enhanced performance by taking advantage of the photocatalytic properties of the titania by exposure to UV light during reaction.