Exceptional performance of chlorobenzene oxidation on antimony-loaded commercial selective catalytic reduction catalyst as a co-benefit of nitrogen oxides reduction: Notable enhancement of chlorobenzene oxidation due to antimony loading.

Chlorobenzene (CB) oxidation using commercial selective catalytic reduction catalysts as a co-benefit of nitrogen oxides (NOx) elimination in terms of the synergic temperature window and polychlorinated byproducts formation was unsatisfactory. Herein, antimony (Sb) was loaded onto V2O5-MoO3/TiO2 (VMoTi) to enhance its performance for CB oxidation as a co-benefit of NOx elimination, and the promotion mechanism of CB oxidation by Sb loading was investigated. CB oxidation rates of VMoTi and Sb/VMoTi relied on their oxidizing abilities and their numbers of V5+ ions, adsorbed CB, gaseous CB, lattice oxygen, and adsorbed oxygen. A newly formed SbOVOMo chain was observed on VMoTi after Sb loading, resulting in a modest enhancement of oxidizing ability and a slight increase in the numbers of lattice oxygen and adsorbed oxygen. Moreover, more Brønsted acid sites were formed on VMoTi after Sb loading, which facilitated CB adsorption and Cl species removal as HCl. Hence, Sb loading not only significantly enhanced the CB oxidation activity of VMoTi, thereby expanding the synergistic temperature window for NOx and CB elimination, but also effectively inhibited the formation of polychlorinated byproducts. Therefore, Sb/VMoTi was a promising catalyst for chlorinated volatile organic compounds oxidation as a co-benefit of NOx elimination.