The destruction of dichloroethane over a γ-alumina supported manganese oxide catalyst

Halogenated VOCs emissions are associated to a wide range of industrial processes; for instance, dichloroethane (DCEA) is mainly used in metal degreasing processes and known to be hazardous to the environment and public health. The effects of operating parameters on the catalytic incineration of DCEA over the Mn₂O₃/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst were performed in this study. The results show that conversion of DCEA increases as inlet temperature and oxygen concentration increase, and decreases with the increases of DCEA concentration and space velocity. The effects of O₂ and DCEA content in carrier gas on the catalytic reaction rate are also observed. Experimental results indicate that the oxidation kinetic behavior of DCEA with the catalyst can be expressed by using the rate expression of the power rate law. The experimental results are compared with those predicted from the kinetic model. The products and reactants distributions from the oxidation of DCEA over Mn₂O₃/γ-Al₂O₃ were observed. The results show that the DCEA conversion starts from 15% at 450K and rises to 100% in the 700-800K ranges and the CO₂ yield is complete (100%) in the same temperature ranges. HCl and Cl₂ are the other main products with little halogenated VOC intermediates.