Ceramics in Environmental Catalysis: Applications and Possibilities

Environmental catalysis has been steadily growing because of the advances in its scientific and engineering aspects, as well as due to the new environmental challenges in the industrial era. The development of new catalysts and materials is essential for new technologies for various environmental applications. Ceramics play important roles in various environmental applications including the identification, monitoring, and quantification of pollutants and their control. Ceramics have important applications as sensors and photocatalysts, and they are extensively used as catalyst carriers and supports. Many ceramics are being explored as catalysts for pollution control applications. Their low cost, thermal and chemical stability, and capability of being tailored make them especially attractive for pollution control applications. Although a wide variety of materials have been developed as catalyst supports, this area is still of interest with new or modified catalyst supports being frequently reported. It is of equal importance to develop new or modified processes for the loading of catalysts on specific supports. Applications like chemical looping combustion (CLC) and other catalytic combustion processes are raising the demands to a new scale. We have been working on the development of both new and modified support materials, including mesoporous materials without structural order for possible applications in CLC and other catalytic reactions. Successful attempts have been made in the modification of conventional γ-Al2O3 and improved synthesis processes for supporting perovskite type catalysts. Our research on environmental catalysis applications of ceramic materials and processes are also briefly discussed.

Graphical abstractThe article deals with various environmental applications of ceramic based materials and structures. Synthesis, characterization, and catalytic properties of various ceramic materials including catalyst supports are discussed.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide