Effect of calcination temperature on catalytic performance of CeCu oxide in removal of quinoline by wet hydrogen peroxide oxidation from water

Abstract

A facile citric acid-mediated complexation-calcination approach is reported in this paper to prepare the CeCu oxide composite with a porous structure that is highly effcient and durable for treating simulated quinoline wastewater by catalytic wet hydrogen peroxide oxidation (CWPO). As the results indicate, Cu species can be dissolved in CeO2 lattice to fabricate a solid solution. The calcination temperature is critical for an optimum catalyst structure and catalytic performance. As found in investigating the structure and catalytic performance of the CeCu oxide prepared at calcination temperatures ranging from 350 to 750 °C, the optimum temperature is 650 °C, at which a loose surface, a porous structure and considerable adsorbed surface oxide/hydroxyl oxide species are fabricated over the catalyst. This resultant catalyst also takes on the optimal performance with an oxidation conversion reaching 98% for quinoline, a removal effciency of 80.6% for total organic carbon (TOC) and a low Cu2+ leaching value of 19.3 mg L-1. Besides, the high performance is maintained by the catalysts in a wide pH range of 5.1-10.5. This work generally provides an effcient way to design and fabricate the catalyst for CWPO reaction, which can also be applied in other reactions.