Preparation and characterization of nano- and non-nanoscale Co3O4 spinels obtained from different methods and study of their performance in combustion of aromatics from polluted air-A comparison with Pt/γ-Al2O3 performance

This article reports the development of oxidative precipitation (OP) method for synthesis of Co3O4 as an environmental catalyst and comparison of its performance with that of obtained from conventional sol gel combustion (SG) method and industrial Pt/gamma-Al2O3 in remediation of toluene from air. Catalytic studies were carried out in a fixed bed reactor at 100-350 degrees C under atmospheric pressure. Co3O4 (OP) showed the highest activity in combustion of toluene. The half conversion temperature of toluene (T-50%) was 160, 258, and 229 degrees C on Co3O4 (OP), Co3O4 (SG) and Pt/gamma-Al2O3, respectively. The higher activity of Co3O4 (OP) was ascribed to nanostructure and reducibility of catalytic sites at lower temperatures, approved by TPR results. The study confirmed that preparation method has a large influence on the chemical-physical properties and activity of the catalyst. The study indicated that oxidative precipitation method could be a promising method to synthesize environmental catalysts considering the simplicity and needless to calcine catalyst at higher temperatures.