The effect of sulfur poisoning of dimethyl disulfide on the catalytic incineration over a Pt/Al₂O₂ catalyst

Catalytic incineration was one of the cost-effective technologies to solve the troublesome VOCs. However, some sulfur containing VOCs, such as dimethyl disulfide, may deactivate the Pt catalyst that was commonly used in the catalytic incineration process. This article provides information on the poisoning effect of dimethyl disulfide. The catalytic incineration of dimethyl disulfide and ethanol, typically emitted from the petrochemical industry, over a Pt/Al₂O₃ fixed bed catalytic reactor were studied. The effects of operating parameters including inlet temperature, space velocity, VOCs concentration, O₂ concentration and catalyst size were characterized. Catalytic incineration on a mixture of dimethyl disulfide and ethanol was also tested. The results show that the conversions of C₂H₅OH and (CH₃)S₂ increase as the inlet temperature increases and the space velocity decreases. The higher the C₂H₅OH concentration is, the higher its conversion is. However, the reverse is true for the case of (CH₃)₂S₂. The O₂ concentration has no effects on the conversion of C₂H₅OH but has a positive effect on the conversion of (CH₃)₂S₂. (CH₃)²S₂ has a poisoning effect on the Pt/Al₂O₃ catalyst, especially at a lower temperature. The conversion of C₂H₅OH is significantly suppressed by the existence of (CH₃)₂S₂ at a temperature lower than 300°C.