Comparative study of activated carbon, natural zeolite, and green sand supports for CuO_X and ZnO sites as ozone decomposition catalyst

This research was based on ozone decomposition in industrial environment. Ozone is harmful to human. Therefore, catalysts were made as a mask filter to decompose ozone. Comparison studies of catalyst supports were done using Granular Activated Carbon (GAC), Natural Zeolite (NZ), and Green Sand (GS). GAC showed the highest catalytic activity compared to other supports with conversion of 98%. Meanwhile, the conversion using NZ was only 77% and GS had been just 27%. GAC had the highest catalytic activity because it had the largest pore volume, which is 0.478 cm³/g. So GAC was used as catalyst supports. To have a higher conversion in ozone decomposition, GAC was impregnated with metal oxide as the active site of the catalyst. Active site comparison was made using CuO_X and ZnO as the active site. Morphology, composition, and crystal phase were analyzed using SEM-EDX, XRF, and XRD methods. Mask filter, which contained catalysts for ozone decomposition, was tested using a fixed bed reactor at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The result of conversion was analyzed using iodometric method. CuO_X/GAC and ZnO/GAC 2%-w showed the highest catalytic activity and conversion reached 100%. From the durability test, CuO_X/GAC 2%-w was better than ZnO/GAC 2%-w because the conversion of ozone to oxygen reached 100% with the lowest conversion was 70% for over eight hours.