Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3
International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03130-7
ORIGINAL PAPER
Platinum‑supported aluminum oxide on activated carbon flter media
for removal of formaldehyde in the indoor condition
C.‑H. Tseng
1
· S.‑M. Chang
2
· S.‑C. Hu
3
· Y.‑C. Chen
2
· A. Shiue
3
· Z. Li
4
· P.‑H. Huang
1
· G. Leggett
5
Received: 26 August 2020 / Revised: 22 December 2020 / Accepted: 4 January 2021
© Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2021
Abstract
Formaldehyde is one of the hazardous indoor air pollutants which have harmful efects on humans, domestic animals, and
environmental health. The goal of this study was to synthesize a Pt/Al
2
O
3
coated on granular activated carbon (GAC), which
is easily recoverable and can be used as an absorbent for formaldehyde removal from polluted indoor air. Moreover, the Pt/
Al
2
O
3
catalyst could achieve complete and stable HCHO oxidation at ambient temperature. The characteristic properties
of the Pt/Al
2
O
3
/GAC sample were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectrometer, Fourier-
transform infrared spectroscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller techniques. The Pt/Al
2
O
3
/GAC catalyst was investigated to
determine the catalytic performance with regard to formaldehyde (HCHO) oxidation under diferent face velocity and initial
formaldehyde concentration applicable to a building environment. It was revealed that the removal capacity of Pt/Al
2
O
3
catalyst reached a maximum of 2.23 mg g
−1
during 0.1 m s
−1
face velocity and 0.75 ppm HCHO inlet concentration. Among
zero-, frst- and second-order reaction kinetic model, the correlation coefcient of the frst-order reaction kinetic model
(0.7948 < R
2
< 0.9249) and second-order reaction kinetic model (0.6056 < R
2
< 0.8146) is lower than zero-order reaction
kinetic model (0.9352 < R
2
< 0.9921) of Pt/Al
2
O
3
catalyst. The oxidation kinetic of HCHO was well ftted with the zero-order
reaction for Pt/Al
2
O
3
catalyst. This study provides some instructions for the design and manufacture of environmentally
harmless and cost-efective catalysts with excellent catalytic oxidation properties to remove HCHO at room temperature.
Keywords Pt/al
2
O
3
catalyst · Reaction kinetic model · Formaldehyde · Air cleaner
Introduction
Pollutants present in the indoor environment include respir-
able suspended particulates (RSP), smoke, volatile and semi-
volatile organic matter, formaldehyde (HCHO), combustion
gas, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO
2
), ozone
(O
3
), microorganisms, radon (Rn), and other forms. HCHO
is a colorless, irritating water-soluble substance. Because
of the large number of urea–formaldehyde widely used in
the production of wood panels, wood furniture, partitions,
mineral fber ceiling, adhesive, detergent and other materials
for architectural decoration. Therefore, HCHO is the most
common fugitive pollutant in indoor volatile organic mat-
ter. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
exhibited HCHO to be a Group 1 carcinogen (IARC 2014).
HCHO may cause adverse efects on indoor air quality to
impact human health (Qin et al. 2020). The human has made
considerable eforts to develop the technology for indoor
HCHO removal to satisfy the rigorous environmental regula-
tions and improve indoor air quality.
Editorial responsibility: Fatih ŞEN.
C.-H. Tseng, S.-M. Chang, S.-C. Hu and Y.-C. Chen have
contributed equal to this work.
* A. Shiue
angusshiue@gmail.com
1
Institute of Environment Engineering and Management,
National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei,
Republic of China
2
Department of Molecular Science and Technology, National
Taipei University of Technology, Taipei , Republic of China
3
Department of Energy and Refrigerating Air-Conditioning
Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology,
1, Sec. 3, Chung Hsiao E Road, Taipei 10608,
Taiwan, Republic of China
4
School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University
of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road,
Haidian District, Beijing 100083, People’s Republic of China
5
LI-COR Biosciences, Cambridge, England