Low-temperature catalysis for VOCs removal in technology and application: A state-of-the-art review

• Noble metal catalyst surpasses metal oxides on low-temperature activity.
• Low-temperature activity determines the cost of catalysis application.
• Hybrid treatments with catalysis are promising technologies for industrial VOCs pollution.

VOCs pollution is a complex issue involving a wide variability of pollutants that threatens human health and environment. Owing to the effective and economic characters, low-temperature (293–673 K) catalytic oxidation (CO) has been extensively studied for VOCs removal in research and application fields. This review examines recent progress on the VOCs catalytic oxidation with noble metal and metal oxides catalysts, and the engineering features of regenerative catalytic oxidizer (RCO), recuperative catalytic oxidizer (CO), photocatalytic oxidizer (PCO) and hybrid treatment combining adsorptive concentration/ozonation/plasma with catalytic oxidizer. The aim was to analyze the factors that relate to the low-temperature activity of catalysts, and the efficiency and economy of manifold catalytic oxidizers. It can be concluded that improving low-temperature activity of catalysts, increasing thermal recovery efficiency of oxidizers and developing hybrid treatment technologies are most effective means to control practical VOCs pollution.

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