Catalytic oxidation degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – a review

Abstract Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are considered one of the significant contributors to air pollution because they are toxic, difficult to remove, come from a wide range of sources, and can easily cause damage to the environment and human health. There is an urgent need for effective means to reduce their emissions. The current treatment technologies for VOCs include catalytic oxidation, adsorption, condensation, and recovery. Catalytic oxidation technology stands out among the others thanks to its high catalytic efficiency, low energy requirement, and lack of secondary pollution. The difficulty of this technology lies in the development of efficient catalysts. The research on loaded noble metal catalysts and non-noble metal oxide catalysts in this area over the past few years is briefly described in this work. Firstly, the catalytic destruction mechanism of organic volatile compounds is introduced. Secondly, the effects of structural modulation during catalytic oxidation, such as the adjustment of noble metal particle size and morphology, metal doping, and defect engineering, on the conformational relationships are discussed. Finally, the challenges faced by thermal catalytic oxidation for the degradation of VOCs are discussed, and the prospects for its development are presented.