Aqueous phase reforming of distiller's grain derived biogas Plant wastewater over α-MoO3 nanosheets

A novel method which combines aqueous phase reforming (APR) and activated carbon adsorption (ACA) was proposed to treat the distiller's grain derived biogas plant wastewater (DGBW). APR was performed over α-MoO3 nanosheets with oxygen vacancies (α-MNOV), Pt/C and Ni/α-MNOV catalysts under temperature of 225 °C and residence time of 30 min. An optimal yield of 4.91 mLhydrogen/mLDGBW was obtained over α-MNOV, which also exhibited the highest organic pollutants removal efficiency. After APR over α-MNOV and following ACA, the removal efficiencies of non-purgeable organic carbon (NPOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (TN) reached 79.45%, 87.82% and 44.78%, respectively. The significant performance of α-MNOV could be attributed to two aspects: shorter van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures presented α-MNOV which enhanced the hydrogen generation process, and the abundant oxygen vacancies (OVs) in α-MNOV which increased its stability and lattice oxygen generation capability, facilitating the decomposition of the organics during APR.