Effect of alkaline earth metal promoter on catalytic activity of MnO2 for the complete oxidation of toluene.

Herein, Na+ and Ca2+ are introduced to MnO2 through cation-exchange method. The presence of Na+ and Ca2+ significantly enhance the catalytic activity of MnO2 in toluene oxidation. Among them, the Ca-MnO2 catalyst exhibits the best catalytic activity (T50 = 194°C, T90 = 215°C, Ea = 57.2 kJ/mol, reaction rate 8.40 × 10-10 mol/(sec⋅m2) at 210°C. T50 and T90: the temperature of 50% and 90% toluene conversion; Ea: apparent activation energy) and possess high tolerance against 2.0 vol.% water vapor. Results reveal that the increased acidic sites of the MnO2 sample can enhance the adsorption of gaseous toluene, and the mobility of oxygen species and the content of reactive oxygen species in the catalyst are significantly improved due to the formed oxygen vacancy. Thus these two factors result in excellent catalytic performance for toluene oxidation combining with the weak CO2 adsorption ability.