Characterization of ceria–zirconia mixed oxides as catalysts for the combustion of volatile organic compounds using inverse gas chromatography

Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) has been used in this work for characterizing the adsorption of different volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (1,2-dichloroethane (DCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), and n-hexane) over ceria–zirconia mixed oxides (CexZr1−xO2, with x = 0, 0.15, 0.5, 0.68, 0.8 and 1). These materials have shown to be very active catalysts for the deep oxidation of the studied VOCs in previous papers. The enthalpies of adsorption (−ΔHads), adsorption isotherms (corresponding to the Henry region), and dispersive (γsD) and specific (Isp) components of the surface energy for the adsorption of the investigated compounds are determined using IGC at infinite dilution. These chromatographic data and other surface parameters (surface area, oxygen storage capacity, surface acidity, and reducibility) are correlated with the activity and selectivity of these catalysts. As a result, for n-hexane, the catalytic activity is mainly correlated with the adsorption capacity of the solids, whereas the activity for chlorinated compounds oxidation (as well as the selectivity to oxidation products) depends on both oxygen storage capacity and specific interaction of the chlorinated compound with the surface.