Combined sorbent/catalyst system

Abstract

A process and a sorbent/catalyst composition are described for the oxidation of volatile organic compounds. The process uses the steps of adsorbing a volatile organic compound in a first segment of a sorbent/catalyst bed at an adsorption temperature, followed by sequential heating of an opposed second segment of a sorbent/catalyst bed, downstream of the first segment, from an initial temperature to an oxidation temperature, desorbing the volatile organic compound from the first segment of the bed by heating, and cooling of the first and second segments of the bed respectively. The sorbent/catalyst contains an adsorption segment, e.g., metal oxides, unexchanged zeolites, carbon and polymeric resins, etc., and a catalytic segment for the subsequent catalytic oxidation of the compounds. The catalyst can be a metal-exchanged aluminosilicate zeolite having at least one exchanged metal, a metal-impregnated aluminosilicate zeolite having at least one impregnated metal, or a metal-exchanged, metal-impregnated aluminosilicate zeolite having at least one exchanged metal and at least one impregnated metal. Both the exchanged and impregnated metals are selected from the group consisting of Ti, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Fe, Mo, Mn, Pt and Pd.