Adsorptive and catalytic properties in the removal of volatile organic compounds over zeolite-based materials

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a major component in air pollutants and pose great risks to both human health and environmental protection. Currently, VOC abatement in industrial applications is through the use of activated carbons as adsorbents and oxide-supported metals as catalysts. Notably, activated carbons easily adsorb water, which strongly hinders the adsorption of VOCs; conventional oxides typically possess relatively low surface areas and random pores, which effectively influence the catalytic conversion of VOCs. Zeolites, in contrast with activated carbons and oxides, can be designed to have very uniform and controllable micropores, in addition to tailored wettability properties, which can favor the selective adsorption of VOCs. In particular, zeolites with selective adsorptive properties when combined with catalytically active metals result in zeolite-supported metals exhibiting significantly improved performance in the catalytic combustion of VOCs compared with conventional oxide-supported catalysts. In this review, recent developments on VOC abatement by adsorptive and catalytic techniques over zeolite-based materials have been briefly summarized. This paper reviews the recent progress of volatile organic compound removal over zeolite-based materials as adsorbents and catalysts, emphasizing the need to tailor specific properties, such as tuning of zeolite wettability and adsorption selectivity.