A Cu-modified active carbon fiber significantly promoted H₂S and PH₃ simultaneous removal at a low reaction temperature

Abstract

• Cu_0.15-ACF performs the best for H₂S and PH₃ simultaneous removal.

• 550°C and 90°C are separately calcination and reaction temperatures.

• The reason why Cu_0.15/ACF shows better performance was found.

• The accumulation of H₂PO₄⁻ and SO₄²⁻(H₂O)₆ is the deactivation cause of Cu_0.15/ACF.

Poisonous gases, such as H₂S and PH₃, produced by industrial production harm humans and damage the environment. In this study, H₂S and PH₃ were simultaneously removed at low temperature by modified activated carbon fiber (ACF) catalysts. We have considered the active metal type, content, precursor, calcination, and reaction temperature. Experimental results exhibited that ACF could best perform by loading 15% Cu from nitrate. The optimized calcination temperature and reaction temperature separately were 550°C and 90°C. Under these conditions, the most removal capacity could reach 69.7 mg/g and 132.1 mg/g, respectively. Characterization results showed that moderate calcination temperature (550°C) is suitable for the formation of the copper element on the surface of ACF, lower or higher temperature will generate more cuprous oxide. Although both can exhibit catalytic activity, the role of the copper element is significantly greater. Due to the exceptional dispersibility of copper (oxide), the ACF can still maintain the advantages of larger specific surface area and pore volume after loading copper, which is the main reason for better performance of related catalysts. Finally, increasing the copper loading amount can significantly increase the crystallinity and particle size of copper (oxide) on the ACF, thereby improving its catalytic performance. In situ IR found that the reason for the deactivation of the catalyst should be the accumulation of generated H₂PO₄⁻ and SO₄²⁻(H₂O)₆ which could poison the catalyst.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

ACF / H ₂S / PH ₃ / Cu / Low temperature / Simultaneous removal

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