• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.42 no.6
• /
• pp.618-628
• /
• 1998

Pure CaO, Mn-doped CaO, Mn/CaO, and K/CaO catalysts were prepared and tested as catalysts for the oxidative coupling of methane in the temperature range of 600 to 800$^{\circ}C$ to investigate the effects of Mn- and K-addition on the catalytic activity of calcium oxide. To characterize the catalysts, X-ray powder diffraction(XRD), XPS, SEM, DSC, and TG analyses were performed. The catalytic reaction was carried out in a single-pass flow reactor using on-line gas chromatography system. Normalized reaction conditions were generally $p(CH_4)/p(O_2)=250$ Torr/50 Torr, total feed flow rate=30 mL/min, and 1 atm of total pressure with He being used as diluent gas. Among the catalysts tested, 6.3 mol% Mn-doped CaO catalyst showed the best $C_2$ yield of 8.0% with a selectivity of 43.2% at 775$^{\circ}C$. The $C_2$ selectivity increased on lightly doped CaO catalysts, while decreased on heavily doped CaO([Mn] > 6.3 mol%) catalysts. 6 wt.% Mn/CaO and 6 wt.% K/CaO catalysts showed the $C_2$ selectivities of 13.2% and 30.9%, respectively, for the reaction. Electrical conductivities of CaO and Mn-doped CaO were measured in the temperature range of 500 to 1000$^{\circ}C$ at Po2's of $10^{-3}\; to\;10^{-1}\;atm.$ The electrical conductivity was decreased with Mn-doping and increased with increasing $P0_2$in the range of $10^{-3}\;to\;10^{-1}\;atm,$ indicating the specimens to be p-type semiconductors. It was suggested that the interstitial oxygen ions formed near the surface can activate methane and the formation of interstitial oxygen ions was discussed on the basis of solid-state chemistry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.111-124
• /
• 2003

Processes that cause immobilization of contaminants in soil are of great environmental importance because they may lead to a considerable reduction in the bioavailability of contaminants and they may restrict their leaching into groundwater. Previous investigations demonstrated that pollutants can be bound to soil constituents by either chemical or physical interactions. From an environmental point of view, chemical interactions are preferred, because they frequently lead to the formation of strong covalent bonds that are difficult to disrupt by microbial activity or chemical treatments. Humic substances resulting from lignin decomposition appear to be the major binding ligands involved in the incorporation of contaminants into the soil matrix through stable chemical linkages. Chemical bonds may be formed through oxidative coupling reactions catalyzed either biologically by polyphenol oxidases and peroxidases, or abiotically by certain clays and metal oxides. These naturally occurring processes are believed to result in the detoxification of contaminants. While indigenous enzymes are usually not likely to provide satisfactory decontamination of polluted sites, amending soil with enzymes derived from specific microbial cultures or plant materials may enhance incorporation processes. The catalytic effect of enzymes was evaluated by determining the extent of contaminants binding to humic material, and - whenever possible - by structural analyses of the resulting complexes. Previous research on xenobiotic immobilization was mostly based on the application of $^{14}$ C-labeled contaminants and radiocounting. Several recent studies demonstrated, however, that the evaluation of binding can be better achieved by applying $^{13}$ C-, $^{15}$ N- or $^{19}$ F-labeled xenobiotics in combination with $^{13}$ C-, $^{15}$ N- or $^{19}$ F-NMR spectroscopy. The rationale behind the NMR approach was that any binding-related modification in the initial arrangement of the labeled atoms automatically induced changes in the position of the corresponding signals in the NMR spectra. The delocalization of the signals exhibited a high degree of specificity, indicating whether or not covalent binding had occurred and, if so, what type of covalent bond had been formed. The results obtained confirmed the view that binding of contaminants to soil organic matter has important environmental consequences. In particular, now it is more evident than ever that as a result of binding, (a) the amount of contaminants available to interact with the biota is reduced; (b) the complexed products are less toxic than their parent compounds; and (c) groundwater pollution is reduced because of restricted contaminant mobility.