Recycling of Gas Phase Residual Dichloromethane by Hydrodechlorination: Regeneration of Deactivated Pd/C Catalysts

Abstract

Dichloromethane (DCM) is an important pollutant with very harmful effects on human health and the environment. Catalytic hydrodechlorination (HDC) is an environmentally friendly technology for its removal from gas streams; it avoids the formation of hazardous pollutants like dioxins and phosgene (produced by other techniques), and the products obtained can be reused in other industries. When compared to other precious metals, Pd/C catalyst exhibited a better catalytic activity. However, the catalyst showed a significant deactivation during the reaction. In this study, the oxidation state and particle size of Pd was monitored with time on stream in order to elucidate the transformations that the catalyst undergoes during HDC. The deactivation can be ascribed to the formation of a new PdCx phase during the first hour of reaction. Carbon atoms incorporated to Pd lattice come from (chloro)-hydrocarbons adsorbed in the metallic species, whose transformation is promoted by the HCl originating in the reaction. Nevertheless, the catalyst was regenerated by air flow treatment at 250 °C, recovering the catalyst more than 80% of initial DCM conversion.