Gas-phase photocatalytic oxidation of acrylonitrile.

Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) of acrylonitrile (AN) on titanium dioxide in the gaseous phase was studied. AN readily undergoes photocatalytic degradation in a gas-solid system by using TiO(2) Degussa P25. The AN PCO volatile products, visible in the infrared spectra, included nitrogen dioxide, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, water, hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. Longer contact time resulted in deeper oxidation of AN with decreasing hydrogen cyanide and increasing nitrogen dioxide content. The effect of temperature increasing from 60 to 130 degrees C was observed to be slightly negative in terms of AN degradation rate. However, the effect of increased temperature was noticeable in terms of the character and yields of the PCO products: HCN peaks diminished with growing peaks of NO(2).