Turbostratic carbon supported palladium as an efficient catalyst for reductive purification of water from trichloroethylene

This work investigates the catalytic properties of turbostratic carbon supported Pd catalyst in hydrodechlorination of trichloroethylene (TCE HDC) in aqueous phase. 1.57 wt% Pd/C was thoroughly characterized by BET, TPHD, CO chemisorption, PXRD, STEM, XPS and used as the catalyst in removal of trichloroethylene from drinking water in batch and continuous-flow reactors. The studies showed that catalytic performance of Pd/C depended on the hydrophobicity and textural properties of carbon support, which influenced noble metal dispersion and increased catalyst tolerance against deactivation by chlorination. Palladium in the form of uniformly dispersed small (~3.5 nm) nanoparticles was found to be very active and stable in purification of water from TCE both in batch and continuous-flow operation.