Study on the porous-medium catalytic oxidation characteristics of MnCo@CF and its CFD numerical simulation

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are key atmospheric pollutants causing haze and photochemical smog, with toxic and carcinogenic properties. Catalytic oxidation is a widely used industrial VOC abatement technology, but noble-metal catalysts are costly and easily deactivated, making non-noble-metal catalysts a promising alternative. Porous inserted catalytic oxidizer emerges as a novel advanced technology, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is an essential tool for studying its flow and reaction characteristics. This study prepared MnCo@CF porous-medium catalyst via a hydrothermal method, and investigated its catalytic performance and oxidation characteristics through experiments and CFD numerical simulation.

RESULTS

MnCo@CF featured spinel MnCo₂O₄ as the primary active phase, with Cu derived from the copper foam substrate participating in catalysis and forming chestnut-like spherical nanostructures. This catalyst achieved 90% toluene conversion at 562 K, with an apparent activation energy of 85.1 kJ mol⁻¹, exhibiting superior performance to that of the single-metal counterparts Mn@CF and Co@CF. CFD simulations revealed intense turbulence and vortexes within the porous framework, with the turbulent kinetic energy reaching 2.054 × 10⁻² m² s⁻²; the VOC removal efficiency was merely approximately 0.2% at an inlet velocity of 0.21 m s⁻¹, whereas inlet temperature variations in the range of 273–373 K and inlet concentration fluctuations from 0.1 to 3 wt% exerted negligible effects on the catalytic process.

CONCLUSION

MnCo@CF porous-medium catalyst was successfully synthesized in situ on copper foam via a hydrothermal method, showing excellent VOC catalytic oxidation activity with high toluene conversion at moderate temperatures. The porous framework has extensive internal vortex disturbances, leading to sharp spatial fluctuations of flow velocity, pressure, and turbulent kinetic energy, which are closely related to the solid skeleton distribution. Inlet flow velocity is the key factor affecting catalytic performance, while inlet temperature and concentration fluctuations within a certain range have relatively small impacts on the catalytic characteristics. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).