The hydrolysis of hydrogen cyanide over Nb/La–TiOx catalyst

• Published in: Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers Vol. 70; pp. 141 - 149
• Main Authors: Ma, Yixing, Wang, Fei, Wang, Xueqian, Ning, Ping, Jing, Xuli, Cheng, Jinhuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.01.2017
• Subjects: HCN; Hydrolysis; sol–gel; Hydrolysis; sol–gel; HCN
• ISSN: 1876-1070; 1876-1089
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtice.2016.10.024

•Transition and rare earth metal catalysts prepared by the sol–gel method for the hydrolysis of HCN.•Nb/La–TiOx Catalyst exhibited the best catalytic activity with the removal efficiency of 97.6% at 250℃ and nearly 100% above 300℃.•The addition of Nb and La in the catalyst improved the specific surface area, provided more active sites and improved adsorption of water which is benefit for hydrolysis of HCN synthetically. A series of catalysts, including TiO2, Fe–TiOx, Ni–TiOx, Nb–TiOx Co–TiOx, and Nb/La–TiOx, were prepared by the sol–gel method and evaluated to investigate their activities for the hydrolysis of HCN. Catalyst Nb/La–TiOx was determined to possess a markedly enhanced HCN hydrolysis capability. The characterization of catalysts was performed using N2 adsorption–desorption, XRD, XPS, SEM, EDS, TEM, and TPD. The addition of Nb and La to the catalyst resulted in the largest specific surface and mesoporous structure with higher catalytic activity. Moreover, the addition of La increased the number of acidic sites and enhanced the adsorption of water. These characteristics enabled the Nb/La–TiOx catalyst to exhibit an excellent performance for the hydrolysis of HCN. Based on the catalytic activity testing and characterization results, a plausible reaction pathway was proposed and discussed in this paper. [Display omitted]