Title:Dioxin Decomposition and Detection Using Gold Based Materials
VOLUME: 5 ISSUE: 1
Author(s):Miguel Peixoto de Almeida and Sonia A.C. Carabineiro
Affiliation:LCM - Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials - Associate Laboratory LSRE/LCM, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias
Keywords:Catalysis, dioxins, gold, polychlorinated dibenzo-para-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, polychlorinated
biphenyls.
Abstract:The control of dioxin emissions from incinerators is an environmental and safety concern. Catalytic oxidation
at lower temperatures is a better alternative to thermal (uncatalysed) decomposition. Since gold is stable in the presence of
halogens, multi-component catalysts containing this metal might be active and stable candidates for oxidative decomposition
of this kind of compounds at low temperatures. This is shown by the number of patents and papers dealing with gold
for this matter. This paper presents a brief overview concerning the work carried out so far on this important subject. The
efficiency of gold, along with that of other metal catalysts like Pt and Ir, on different oxide supports (like TiO2, Fe2O3,
SnO2, La2O3, etc), for processing dioxins at very low temperatures, is referred. Gold can also have an important role in
dioxin detection, therefore gold based sensors are also mentioned.
