Study of catalytic activities of nanostructure copper and cobalt supported ZSM-5 catalysts for conversion of volatile organic compounds

This paper reports the comparison of the activities of nanostructure Cu-ZSM-5 and Co-ZSM-5 catalysts for conversion of ethyl acetate and toluene and deals with the relationship between activity and structure of catalysts. The catalysts were characterized by ICP-AES, XPS, EDX, XRD, SEM, and TEM techniques. Catalytic studies were carried out under atmospheric pressure and in a temperature range of 200-500 ° C. Cu-ZSM-5 catalysts showed better activity than Co-ZSM-5, revealing higher activity of copper cations. The higher activity was ascribed to higher electro-negativity, smaller cation radius, good distribution, and specific coordination of copper cations inside Cu-ZSM-5 catalysts. The activity of catalysts increased with the increase in loading at the range of metal loading ( 5 wt %). Ethyl acetate showed higher reactivity than toluene on these catalysts.