In this study, the catalytic combustion of propionaldehyde, which is an Offensive Odorant Substance assigned by the Korean Ministry of Environment (KMOE), over alumina-supported manganese oxide (Mn/Al2 O3) catalysts was investigated. The combustion reaction was carried out in a fixed-bed reactor at the temperature range of 200 ∼340 ℃. Mn/Al2O3 catalysts with Mn loadings ranging from 3.9 to 18.3 wt.% were prepared by impregnation method. The physicochemical characteristics of the catalysts were analyzed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The Mn crystalline phases of the Mn/Al2O3 catalysts were identified as α-Mn2O3 and β-MnO2. Mn oxides were covered on γ-Al2O3 supports with an average diameter of around 1 μm. With the increase of Mn loadings, the BET surface areas, pore volumes and average pore diameters of the Mn/Al2O3 catalysts decreased. The catalytic activities of Mn/Al2O3 catalysts increased as the Mn loading was increased from 3.9 wt.% to 18.3 wt.%. The catalyst with 18.3 wt.% Mn loading was able to achieve 100% propionaldehyde conversion at 260 ℃. For the same temperature, a lower Gas Hourly Space Velocity (GHSV) and a lower propionaldehyde concentration promote the complete combustion of propionaldehyde.

The characteristics of fluidized bed catalytic combustion for sludge treatment have been studied in a pilot scale of fluidized bed combustor. 1.0wt% Pt of catalyst supported on the spherical alumina was mixed with the spherical pure alumina as a bed material. Sewage sludge, heating value of which is 3,440 kcal/kg, was used as a waste sample in the experiment. Through the experiments, the various characteristics such as a bed temperature profile and flue gas(CO, SO2) concentration profile were investigated and the catalyst mixing ratio and sample feed rate were applied as experimental parameters. The experimental results showed that bed temperature was maintained more highly and flue gas concentration decreased with the increase of the catalyst mixing ratio, and bed temperature was maintained more highly also and flue gas concentration increased with the increase of the sample feed rate. The combustion efficiency of fluidized bed catalytic combustion of the sludge increased with the increase of the catalyst mixing ratio and sample feed rate and reached more than 96%.

Combustion of ethanol (EtOH) at low temperatures has been studied using titania- and silica-supported platinum nanocrystallites with different sizes in a wide range of 1~25 nm, to see if EtOH can be used as a clean, alternative fuel, i.e., one that does not emit sulfur oxides, fine particulates and nitrogen oxides, and if the combustion flue gas can be used for directly heating the interior of greenhouses. The results of H2-N2O titration on the supported Pt catalysts with no calcination indicate a metal dispersion of 0.97±0.1, corresponding to ca. 1.2 nm, while the calcination of 0.65% Pt/SiO2 at 600 and 900℃ gives the respective sizes of 13.7 and 24.6 nm when using X-ray diffraction technique, as expected. A comparison of EtOH combustion using Pt/TiO2 and Pt/SiO2 catalysts with the same metal content, dispersion and nanoparticle size discloses that the former is better at all temperatures up to 200℃, suggesting that some acid sites can play a role for the combustion. There is a noticeable difference in the combustion characteristics of EtOH at 80~200℃ between samples of 0.65% Pt/SiO2 consisting of different metal particle sizes; the catalyst with larger platinum nanoparticles shows higher intrinsic activity. Besides the formation of CO2, low-temperature combustion of EtOH can lead to many other pathways that generate undesired byproducts, such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetic acid, diethyl ether, and ethylene, depending strongly on the catalyst and reaction conditions. A 0.65% Pt/SiO2 catalyst with a Pt crystallite size of 24.6 nm shows stable performances in EtOH combustion at 120℃ even for 12 h, regardless of the space velocity allowed.

This is a study on the volatile organic compounds(VOCs) concentrator with zeolite adsorptive honey rotor and catalytic combustion system for abating VOCs emitted from printing industry. VOCs emitted from the printing industry is mainly caused by organic solvent of printing ink. The content of organic solvents in printing ink varies from 40% to 75% and its content in the gravure ink is higher than that in any other ink. The average concentrations of each VOCs are 139 ppm for toluene, 152.1 ppm for MEK, 256.9 ppm for methanol and 42.9 ppm for isopropyl alcohol. We used zeolite honeycomb for absorbent of VOCs concentrator and palladium for catalyst combustion system. This system abated over 96% of emitted total VOCs, 98% of toluene, 100% of MEK, 92% of methanol and 100% of isopropyl alcohol. It is concluded that the low-leveled high-volume VOCs emitted from printing process were removed almost by concentrator with zeolite adsorptive honey rotor and catalytic combustion system.

The Kyoto Protocol, that had been in force from February 16, 2005, requires significant reduction in CO₂emissions for all anthropogenic sources containing transportation, industrial, commercial, and residential fields, etc, and automotive emission standards for air pollutants such as particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) become more and more tight for improving ambient air quality. This paper has briefly reviewed homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion technology offering dramatic reduction in CO₂, NOx and PM emissions, compared to conventional gasoline and diesel engine vehicles, in an effort of automotive industries and their related academic activities to comply with future fuel economy legislation, e.g., CO₂emission standards and corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) in the respective European Union (EU) and United States of America (USA), and to meet very stringent future automotive emission standards, e.g., Tier 2 program in USA and EURO V in EU. In addition, major challenges to the widespread use of HCCI engines in road applications are discussed in aspects of new catalytic emissions controls to remove high CO and unburned hydrocarbons from such engine-equipped vehicles.

We have studied the catalytic combustion of soot particulates over perovskite-type oxides prepared by malic acid method. The catalysts were modified to enhance the activity by substitution of metal into A or B site of perovskite oxide. In addition, the reaction conditions such as temperature and O2 concentration were investigated. The partial substitution of alkali metals into A site in the LaMnO3 catalyst, enhanced the catalytic activity in the combustion of carbon particulate and the activity was shown in the order: Cs＞K＞Na. For the La1-xCsxMnO3 catalysts, the catalytic activity showed the maximum value with x=0.3 but no more increase on the catalytic activity was shown with x＞0.3. For the La0.8Cs0.2MnO3 catalyst, the substitution of Fe or Ni increased the ignition temperature. The ignition temperature decreased with an increase of O2 concentration, however, no more increase in the catalytic activity was shown with O2 concentration＞0.2. The introduction of NO into reactants showed no effect on the catalytic activity.