The
synergistic control of multipollutants is the frontier of environmental
catalysis. This research is in the infancy stage, and many uncertainties
still remain. Herein, we investigated the reaction characteristics
of synergistic elimination of NO
x
and
chloroaromatics on a commercial V2O5–WO3/TiO2 catalyst. The reaction byproducts were qualitatively
and quantitatively analyzed, and their origins were clarified. In
particular, the origins of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) from the
synergistic reaction with or without SO2 were first explored;
this is crucial for assessing the environmental risk by applying such
a synergistic system. Experimental results indicate that during the
synergistic reaction, the V2O5–WO3/TiO2 catalyst was deactivated at 200 and 250 °C,
whereas the 300 °C was sufficient to durably convert the NO and
chlorobenzene at the turnover frequency (TOF) of 7.23 × 10–4 and 1.32 × 10–4 s–1, respectively. A range of aromatics, alkenes, and alkanes, particularly
their chlorinated congeners, were observed in the off-gases and on
the catalyst surface, where those of 3-chlorobenzonitrile, 4-chloro-2-nitrophenol,
and inorganic CS2 were first discovered. In the time-on-stream
test at 250 °C, the PCDD/Fs collected from the off-gases was
measured at 0.0514 ng I-TEQ Nm–3, but the most toxic
dioxins congener, 2,3,7,8-TCDD, was not observed. The alkalinity of
selective catalytic reduction reaction likely facilitated the chlorophenol
formation, which eventually promoted PCDD/F generation. The SO2 was found to benefit polychlorinated byproduct generation,
but the addition of which distinctly inhibited PCDD/F formation.